


Multiplayer

by FandomAmbassador



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Anal Sex, Angst, Bottom Park Chanyeol, Established Relationship, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Friends to Lovers, Frottage, Gamer AU - Freeform, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, League of Legends - Freeform, M/M, Multi, Polyamory, Polyamory Negotiations, Top Do Kyungsoo | D.O
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-19
Updated: 2020-08-07
Packaged: 2021-02-13 08:57:35
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 22,891
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21491710
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FandomAmbassador/pseuds/FandomAmbassador
Summary: Do Kyungsoo and his boyfriend, Park Chanyeol, have finally fulfilled their dream of owning a gaming café and restaurant together. The two childhood sweethearts have the perfect, ideal life and relationship. That is, until everything is turned upside down by the arrival of mysterious Wu Yifan, a silver-haired gamer who is reluctant to accept help and hides too many secrets. As Kyungsoo finds himself being pulled in by Yifan, can he and Chanyeol make room for one more person in their idyllic relationship? And can they handle the weight of Yifan's past to help him find the future he deserves?Otherwise known as my self-indulgent polyamorous Gamer AU
Relationships: Do Kyungsoo | D.O/Park Chanyeol, Do Kyungsoo | D.O/Park Chanyeol/Wu Yi Fan | Kris, Do Kyungsoo | D.O/Wu Yi Fan | Kris, Park Chanyeol/Wu Yi Fan | Kris, Side Relationships
Comments: 30
Kudos: 63





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> hi everyone! so this is probably gonna be a super long fic and I'm still working on getting it finished, but I wanted to start posting the chapters here for you all to enjoy! please be patient with me as I update! <3

When Do Kyungsoo was seven years old, he met his soulmate. Not literally, of course, because Kyungsoo didn’t believe in soulmates, but if there was anything close to that, then it would be Park Chanyeol. One year older than him, eight year old Park Chanyeol was a nightmare. He was loud, messy and clumsy. Do Kyungsoo was quiet to a fault and impressively mature for his age.

“My mom told me to ask you if you wanted to play with me instead of stealing the chopsticks off the tables.” Seven year old Do Kyungsoo said innocently.

Park Chanyeol was bored and prone to stealing chopsticks off the tables of Kyungsoo’s mother’s restaurant while his own mother had lunch with her friends from work. 

The boy stared curiously at Kyungsoo, his messy hair falling in his eyes, thin fingers grasping four sets of chopsticks.

“Depends what game you wanna play. Do you like video games? I like them. What video games do you play?”

Kyungsoo wrinkled nose as if he had smelled something gross. “I don’t like video games.”

The chopstick thief’s eyes widened comically. Kyungsoo thought that he kinda had wide eyes to begin with, so the shocked expression made them look like an anime character’s. “You don’t like video games? My mom told me to always be nice to people, but I don’t know if I want to be friends with you.

Kyungsoo shrugged. “It doesn’t matter. Do you want to color? I have a twenty-four pack of colored pencils.” 

Video game dilemma forgotten, Park Chanyeol set the chopsticks back on the table. “Wow! I only have a nine pack at home. Can I see it?”

“Of course.” Kyungsoo led the boy away from the temptation of chopsticks and to his own table in the corner of the restaurant, where his colored pencils and paper sat. 

“Anyways, my name is Park Chanyeol. What do you like, even though you don’t like video games?” The skinny boy said, immediately sifting through the colored pencil set.

“My name is Do Kyungsoo. I like cooking and coloring.” 

“Are you gonna own this restaurant when you grow up? Can you make me food? Are you gonna be an artist and a chef? That would be cool. Can I teach you how to play my favorite video game?”

Kyungsoo couldn’t help but smile at the ridiculous barrage of words that came at him. He might not know it now, but at seven years old, he had met his soulmate. 

At twenty-five, Do Kyungsoo officially owned a PC Bang/restaurant with his soulmate and now-boyfriend. 

“Isn’t it beautiful, Soo?” Park Chanyeol, twenty-six and Do Kyungsoo’s said boyfriend, sighed in happiness, tugging Kyungsoo into his side with an arm around his waist. 

Above them, the words ‘EXO PC BANG AND RESTAURANT’ shone in white LED. 

“I still don’t know why we didn’t call it Do-Park PC Bang and Restaurant. EXO sounds kinda dumb.” Kyungsoo mused, despite the fact that his stomach was fluttering with excitement at seeing their business officially launched. 

“It’s very cool! It stands for extra-ordinary. Get it? Extraordinary! Baekhyun told me it sounds like a catchy idol group name, so lots of people will visit.” Chanyeol defended, placing a hand on his chest.

“Well, imagine their surprise when they don’t see any of their idols here.” Kyungsoo said dryly.

“You never know. Maybe lots of cool idols and actors will want to come here! We’re gonna be famous, I just know it.” 

Kyungsoo just grinned, bumping his hip against his boyfriend’s. 

After three months of owning a PC bang and restaurant with his boyfriend and soulmate, Do Kyungsoo was definitely not famous, but was probably rather well known in the gaming community of Goyang, just north of Seoul. Well, more like his cooking was well-known, but Kyungsoo didn’t mind. Their customers were nice and all, but he couldn’t handle more than one gamer in his life and Chanyeol filled that slot. 

They were usually a bit too loud and rowdy for Kyungsoo to handle, so he would hide out in the kitchen, making kimbap and listening to his favorite girl groups. Chanyeol, ever the social butterfly, loved to hang out with their customers and had made more than one friend already. At first, Byun Baekhyun was their only customer for a very long time. Kyungsoo would spend his days fidgeting with the decor and making sure each of the computer stations were perfectly set up while Baekhyun and Chanyeol played games to pass the time. Then, after a long, stressful month of Kyungsoo wondering if this business would ever take off, things started improving and word got out that Goyang had its very first PC bang and restaurant that sold some damn-good food. Nowadays, Baekhyun had upgraded from customer to employee and had taken to working the night shifts, since he was was always playing games during that time anyways. Chanyeol still hung around with his friends and Kyungsoo would hide at the cafe, dishing up his legendary jjajangmyeon. 

Their store was open 24 hours, which Kyungsoo assumed was because gamers were up at ungodly hours, but he quickly realized just why Chanyeol had been so adamant about keeping them open 24-hours. 

“Kyungsoo,” Chanyeol had confided with him. “I’m lucky to have parents who love me no matter what, but too many times I’ve seen my friends get kicked out of their houses. I know a bunch of people who need this as a safe place.”

It wasn’t easy, wanting to be in the gaming industry, but it was even harder being queer to boot. Kyungsoo knew Chanyeol had a habit of picking up strays, but this time, he didn’t argue it. 

So, Kyungsoo, at twenty-five, owned a PC bang/restaurant/refuge-for-those-in-need with his boyfriend and soulmate. Who was, at the moment, playing video games loudly at 3 AM, if Kyungsoo’s ears told him correctly. He sighed and closed his eyes, rubbing at his temples. Three in the morning was usually a fairly popular time at EXO, but right now, on a Tuesday, it was just Chanyeol and his friends. He glared down at the plate of yachae-hotteok which he probably should have taken out to them thirty minutes ago. The vegetable and noodle pancakes sat there innocently as if to say, ‘What are you looking at? Go give your boyfriend some proper food’. Sighing, Kyungsoo lifted up the plate and dared to venture out of the kitchen. He had sent home their only server about an hour ago, since it was shaping up to be a quiet night and she should probably study for her exams instead of hanging around with a reclusive chef in the back of a gaming cafe. 

Outside, Chanyeol was seated at his favorite PC, which had a sticker of a dog stuck to the desk from when Baekhyun had slapped it there during their opening ceremony. Chanyeol fondly called the sticker Toben, which was apparently the ‘name of my future dog, don’t look so salty about it Soo!’. Next to him, Baekhyun was wailing about something that had happened in the game. Kyungsoo noticed that their new friend who had started coming more frequently was there as well. Jongseob? Jaehyuk? 

“Any of you guys up for some yachae-hotteok?” Kyungsoo offered, coming up being Chanyeol’s chair and rubbing his neck with his free hand. 

“Soo! You’re my favorite.” Chanyeol grinned, his eyes still following the movements on the screen. 

“Come play with us Kyungsoo-yah!” Baekhyun said immediately, grabbing a handful of the pancakes from the plate. Jongseob? Jongho? eyed Kyungsoo from where he sat, a curved smile crossing his face. 

“You know I’m no good at these, hyung.” Kyungsoo said patiently. 

Chanyeol snorted. “You sell yourself short, babe.”

Kyungsoo’s mouth tightened and he made to argue that, but Chanyeol brushed it off with a wave of his hand.

“Anyway, this is Jongdae. Dae, this is my boyfriend, Kyungsoo.” 

The sly-mouthed man blinked lazily at Kyungsoo, doing a two-fingered salute in greeting. “Nice to meet you, Chanyeol’s boyfriend. I’ve heard a lot about you.”

“Only good things, I hope,” Kyungsoo muttered the expected response dryly. 

“From Chanyeol? He’s so pure, he can only say good things.” 

Chanyeol coughed, feigning offense. “I’m not pure! That’s what you say to cute little kids.”

“Well…” Baekhyun trailed off, eyebrows raised meaningfully at Jongdae and the other gave a sharp, loud laugh. 

Kyungsoo shrugged, not disagreeing. “Well. Enjoy the yachae-hotteok. Nice to meet you Jongdae-ssi.” 

“Oh, Soo,” Chanyeol reached out and caught his wrist before he could escape. “Actually, there’s someone else here. It’d only be polite if you’d offer him some too.”

Kyungsoo’s eyebrows drew together. “There’s someone else here? I thought the last customer was at nine?”

Chanyeol cocked his head, accentuating his puppyish look. “That was. This dude has been here since noon.”

He whistled softly. Doing some math in his head, he realized that this person had been here for fifteen hours. Fifteen hours. Kyungsoo whistled in disbelief again. 

“Damn. Okay. Has he been getting food?” 

Chanyeol grinned at Kyungsoo’s motherly instincts. “He had a friend come in around five and give him some takeout and a good scolding.”

Kyungsoo leveled Chanyeol with a stare. “What did I tell you about eavesdropping on other people’s lives?”

The taller man sputtered helplessly. “You asked me first!”

Rolling his eyes, Kyungsoo took the plate from Baekhyun and patted Chanyeol on the shoulder, wordlessly leaving the three to go look for the loner. 

It wasn’t totally absurd to hear that a customer had spent nearly a whole day at the place, but it still didn’t happen often and surprised Kyungsoo every time. Anyways, Chanyeol usually would let Kyungsoo know when a customer would stay the whole day so that he could bring out some food periodically. The fact that this one was being ignored concerned Kyungsoo. In the back of the building, in the second-to-last row of PCs, Kyungsoo saw a head hunched over the keyboard and figured that was his victim. 

Upon moving closer, he noticed that the man was slumped across the desk, a bird’s nest of silver being the only thing visible on his head. His arms were pillowed under his forehead, the keyboard pushed to the side. 

Kyungsoo coughed louder than a polite human generally would. 

The man startled instantly in a flurry of limbs and cords until he was properly facing Kyungsoo. If the back of his hair was a mess, it was nothing compared to the front. His bangs were plastered to his forehead while the sides stuck up in two tufts, making him looking a bit like a gangly, silver-haired Wolverine. 

“Uh,” The man said intelligently. He had a deeper voice than Kyungsoo expected. Kinda like Chanyeol’s, but more of a gravelly, rich, kind of deep. Kyungsoo figured that him just waking up didn’t help either. 

“I have yachae-hotteok for you.” Kyungsoo said.

The man’s eyes were comically wide underneath a pair of eyebrows that rivaled Kyungsoo’s own. It gave him an almost inhuman look, especially in comparison to the round point of his nose and his small, pink mouth. 

“I didn’t...order any?” He asked and Kyungsoo notices that his Korean is accented. 

“I know.” Kyungsoo set the plate on the desk. “You should play with the others.” 

“They’re playing a different game.” The man said as if it was perfectly obvious. Glancing at his computer monitor, Kyungsoo noticed he wasn’t actually logged in to any game at all.

“Chanyeol plays all games. It doesn’t matter.” 

“Okay.”

Kyungsoo stared at the man, who spoke almost as little as he did himself. 

“Well. Enjoy the hotteok. Go bother Chanyeol if you’d like, he doesn’t mind.”

“Okay.” The loner repeated. There was a spot of dried drool on his cheek, but Kyungsoo figured that might be rude to point out. 

With an awkward wave of his hand, Kyungsoo turned on his heel and left, feeling oddly flustered by how the conversation went. It was not often when Do Kyungsoo felt like he was the talkative one in the conversation, but for some reason, he felt like he was forgetting something to say. With a shake of his head, Kyungsoo reached for the comfort of his kitchen.

“It’s way too late for me to be up.” He muttered to himself, rubbing at his eyes.

He only paused for a second to glance towards the back of the building before he pushed open the kitchen door and ducked inside.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yifan is a gay mess

The next time Kyungsoo saw the stranger was a week later. He had been rather swamped in the kitchen after they hired two young kids as cooks. It was a long and tiring training process and Kyungsoo still didn’t trust them with his precious ramen broth recipe. However, once they were comfortable in Kyungsoo’s kitchen, it freed up his schedule a lot more.

Kyungsoo had taken to sitting in a chair alongside Chanyeol’s PC, resting his head against his boyfriend’s shoulder occasionally.

“You’re inhibiting my movements,” Chanyeol had complained.

Kyungsoo had just raised an eyebrow, calling his bluff easily. 

Jongdae was a regular customer now, joining Baekhyun and Chanyeol in their late-night gaming sessions when the store was empty. The man was just as loud as the other two, but he was also an intriguing mix of mild-manners and sharp-tongued comebacks. He mellowed out the other two and kept them on their toes, so somehow it worked.

This evening, the three boys were playing some game with bright, if not rather confusing, graphics glowing on the screen, Chanyeol’s deep voice mingling nicely with Baekhyun’s higher one and Jongdae’s nasally, melodic tone. 

“Gah, Baek I’m really low. What the hell are you doing anyways?” Jongdae whined, one headphone muff on his ear and the other one pushed behind. 

“Saving your ass as usual,” Baekhyun shot back. 

“Thank god there’s no one here to hear you guys act like three year olds,” Kyungsoo groaned, pushing the side of his face deeper into Chanyeol’s fluffy sweater, hoping the fabric could muffle sound for at least one ear.

“Actually, there is.” Chanyeol said helpfully, the movements of his arm jostling Kyungsoo’s face back and forth. He would probably have rug burn on his cheeks by the time the game ended.

“Who?” Kyungsoo said curiously, glancing around the building. He hadn’t seen anyone when he walked out of the kitchen. 

“Oh, that one dude, you know, who was here the other week. Stayed over fifteen hours.” 

Kyungsoo’s eyebrows drew together. 

“That’s so vague, Yeol.”

“You brought him yachae-hotteok? Remember?”

“Oh, the hot guy with anime-hair?” Baekhyun chipped in.

Chanyeol swatted his arm. “You have no shame. What if he hears you?”

Baekhyun stared mournfully at his screen. “God, I wish.”

Kyungsoo suddenly remembered too-wide eyes and intimidating eyebrows. A birds nest of hair. Drool on the cheek. 

“Ah. I remember. He’s a regular?”

Chanyeol shrugged. “I can’t figure out his pattern.”

“What’s his name, anyways?” Kyungsoo wasn’t quite sure why he was asking these things.

“Erm,” Chanyeol’s pointer finger twitched on the mouse as he thought. “Galaxy something or other.” 

Kyungsoo knows his facial expressions can do a scarily good impersonation of emotionless rock at times and this was definitely one of them. He thinks he can feel the tics in his left eye starting up.

“Chanyeol,” He says patiently. “What’s his real name?”

His boyfriend’s eyes are particularly large as he pretends to think.

“I am...not actually sure.” His megawatt smile is a fairly good distraction, but Kyungsoo still levels him with a disappointed stare. 

“Some business owner you are,” Kyungsoo teases, nudging Chanyeol’s shoulder. There’s still a funny flutter of disappointment in his stomach and he’s not sure why.

His boyfriend rolls his eyes, still grinning, and returns his focus to the game. Kyungsoo recognizes it as League of Legends and has enough knowledge of the game to notice that Chanyeol is doing terribly. He tries to concentrate on the game, but the seemingly ceaseless march of minions down the prettily animated lanes quickly begin to blur in front of him.

There’s a tray of manju in the kitchen, he remembers. Just baked a bit ago. They’d still be warm and the boys would probably be hungry by now, right? 

Manju are best fresh anyways, Kyungsoo tells himself as he shoves himself up off the chair.

“Where are you going, babe?” Chanyeol calls out behind him.

“Getting snacks,” Kyungsoo responds and then turns in a hurry and disappears into the kitchen before Chanyeol wonders when he started getting so generous with his precious sesame pastries. 

It certainly doesn’t have anything to do with the intriguing stranger.

Kyungsoo is curious. Okay? He’s curious, like any other normal human being would be when a real-life anime character with a suspicious likeability to an Angry Bird has been spending nearly 24-hours at a time in a PC bang. In his PC bang. And restaurant. 

Anyways, Chanyeol obviously doesn’t have the common sense to be a polite human and exchange names with his regular customer, so Kyungsoo supposes that he should do it. Now that he’s got more free time, there’s all the more reason to do so. 

So Kyungsoo adjusts his grip on the tray of manju, counting the pastries and assuring himself that the buns are perfectly coated in one-half sesame seeds.

Scary Eyebrows is in the same spot as last time, in the second-to-last row of PC’s. This time he’s not asleep, but staring absentmindedly at his nails and ignoring the screen on the computer. 

It’s not until when Kyungsoo is about three feet away when he looks up. His eyebrows are still thick, but his hair is slightly more tamed this time, the excess strands swept back into a ponytail. His eyes are still wide, like he’s expecting Kyungsoo to bite him. 

This time, however, he formulates a full sentence first. 

“Are there free snacks after two in the morning or something?”

Kyungsoo creeps closer, glancing over at his computer monitor. There’s some sort of home screen to a game that looks familiar, but he can’t put his finger on it. 

“No. They were just...still warm. So I figured I’d better get them out now.” It sounds normal. 

The man’s expression doesn’t change and Kyungsoo vaguely wonders if this is why people have commented on his own lack of outward personality. He feels a pang of sorrow towards the man and hopes that he didn’t get sneered at about it like Kyungsoo did. Chanyeol was the only person who really ever made him feel okay about his quiet attitude. 

However, the stranger’s face is considerably more intimidating, with his sharp eyebrows and tightly drawn mouth. Kyungsoo wonders what he would look like smiling.

Instead, he offers out the plate of manju.

“You should play with the others.” 

Scary Eyebrows glances once at the plate and then at his computer monitor, where Kyungsoo finally recognizes what the game is.

“Oh! They’re playing the same game too.”

The fox-tailed character is smiling seductively at him from the main page and Kyungsoo averts his eyes to the timer in the corner. 

“Are you in a game?”

The man fiddle with his fingers again. They are very long, but elegant. They put Baekhyun’s pretty hands to shame.

“Yeah,” He says. “I’m waiting for a match to be found.” 

“You should have some manju while you wait.”

“Okay.” He reaches out and takes one of the pastries and Kyungsoo feels weird for staring at his hands now that they’re closer. His nails are perfectly maintained and look oddly dainty for hands that size. They’re so large that they dwarf the plate. 

“My name is Kyungsoo. Do Kyungsoo.” He decides to say, because seriously, this isn’t going anywhere unless one of them decides to break the awkward silence, and it’s obviously not going to be the other man.

His suspicions are confirmed when the man almost looks surprised to hear an introduction. His eyebrows draw together and it’s a spectacular sight. 

“I’m Yifan.” 

Kyungsoo grins at the breakthrough.

“How long have you been playing League of Legends, Yifan?” Kyungsoo asks and his name feels nice to say. There are just some words that Kyungsoo likes to say and he thinks he will add Yifan’s name to the list. It’s not Korean, but Kyungsoo likes it. At first, it sounds dark and mysterious, but it finishes prettily and Kyungsoo likes the inflections of the letters. 

“My whole life, really,” Yifan says and Kyungsoo thinks that he looks pleased with the turn of the conversation. 

“Admittedly, I don’t know much about it,” Kyungsoo says mournfully, finding that he’s actually legitimately disappointed that he doesn’t have much to contribute to this conversation.

“Oh.” Yifan’s face seems to fall once again, regaining his stony composure.

Kyungsoo panics and the first thing he can think to do is grab the nearest chair from a desk and swing it over to Yifan’s PC. Plopping down unceremoniously, Kyungsoo peers at the screen Yifan is on. 

“How much longer ‘till your game starts? Might as well give me a tutorial.” 

He can see the surprised quirk of Yifan’s eyebrows out of the corner of his eye, but the other man only hesitates a moment before speaking.

“The queue shouldn’t be much longer. You sure you wanna know? It’s pretty complicated…” 

Kyungsoo watches as the other man pulls down the sleeves of of his oversized hoodie, vaguely surprised at how it actually does make him look smaller despite his broad torso and large hands. 

“Nah. I listen to Chanyeol and the other’s talking about stuff like this all the time. I don’t mind.”

Yifan’s mouth makes a tiny curve upwards.

Somehow, Kyungsoo finds him spending over two hours at Yifan’s PC. By the time he glances at a clock, it’s past four in the morning and the loud cheers and screams from Chanyeol and his friends can’t be heard anymore. Kyungsoo is sure he looks absolutely exhausted, still not a huge fan of the late-night lifestyle. Yifan has long since logged off the PC and Kyungsoo is surprised to find that he’s an excellent conversationalist.

Although he’s extremely quiet, he listens well and Kyungsoo anticipates his input, as little as it may be. Once again, Kyungsoo finds himself offering more words in the conversation that he ever has. He’s not gonna lie, it’s terribly tiring to be the chatty one, a task he’s always left to Chanyeol, but it’s worth it to see how much he has drawn Yifan out of his shell. 

The man is more indulgent with his smiles and words as the night goes by and Kyungsoo wonders if it’s because he’s making a pattern out of bringing him free treats. 

“Soo?” 

Chanyeol’s voice shocks Kyungsoo out of his thoughts and evidently shocks Yifan out of his train of thought, because the man visibly jumps and stops his sentence where its at. 

Kyungsoo feels a touch of annoyance at the effect the interruption had on Yifan, but he turns at the sound of his boyfriend’s voice.

Chanyeol peers around the rows of PCs, relief evident in his face as his eyes land on Kyungsoo.

“Oh thank god, Soo. Me and Baek were scouring the kitchen for you. I think he was worried.”  
Kyungsoo suddenly feels guilt drop low in his stomach.

“Fuck, sorry, Yeol. I didn’t realize the time. You guys done already?” He stands and is a little bit surprised when Chanyeol pulls him into a hug. The guilt feels even sourer when he realizes just how upset his boyfriend was.

“We noticed you left a while ago and when we couldn’t find you, everyone split up to look. I just assumed you wouldn’t be anywhere else in here besides the kitchen, so I told Baek to go check if you had stopped by the store next door.”

“You could’ve just called me.” Kyungsoo wonders softly, rubbing Chanyeol’s arms soothingly.

“We tried.” Chanyeol raises an eyebrow.

Kyungsoo grabs his phone out of his pocket. Shit.

“Shit.” He repeats out loud. “I forgot my phone’s been dead since this morning.”

Chanyeol just sighs and smiles gently. “I’m just glad you’re not wandering the streets of Goyang at four in the morning. Silly Soo.”

Kyungsoo tries to give him a reassuring smile, but there’s a lump in his throat that feels like it’s weighing him down.

There’s a loud screech of the chair wheels against the floor that gratingly fills the air and Kyungsoo remembers the reason for his absence. 

That reason is promptly thrown out of his head as he turns and finds that holy shit, yifan just stood up and he is the tallest human being to ever live. Kyungsoo lives with a whole Park Chanyeol, an actual giant, and somehow here he is with a faceful of Yifan’s chest, wondering how on earth he has come across someone who is taller than his boyfriend.

Not that Kyungsoo is unused to craning his head back to look at people, but goddamn, he can almost see the clouds floating around Yifan’s spikes of silvery hair.

“I’m sorry,” Yifan says stiffly. His eyebrows are the most severe that Kyungsoo has ever seen them. “It’s my fault. I talk too much.”

Kyungsoo almost snorts in disbelief, but he realizes that Yifan must think that Chanyeol is mad at him, and is providing a cover for him. He’s about to protest, but Yifan keeps talking and Chanyeol is staring weirdly between the two of them.

“I’ll leave now. I apologize again, it won’t happen anymore.” 

Before Kyungsoo can decide what exactly that’s supposed to mean, Yifan is brushing past the two of them, lowering his head as he passes. Kyungsoo can see the tight set of his mouth and it hurts. Neither one of them can get a word in before Yifan has disappeared and they hear the decisive ring of the doorbell as he exits. 

“I’m not really sure what just happened.” Chanyeol says quietly and the worry in Kyungsoo’s gut doubles because that really isn’t a good sign.

“Me neither.”

There’s a ring of the doorbell once again and the two of them jump, heads turning towards the front of the building. Kyungsoo is almost expecting and admittedly hoping to see that head of silver hair appear around the corner, but instead he hears Baekhyun’s voice calling out.

“Yeol? He’s not there, Yeol. Should I call the police?” 

Kyungsoo swallows down the disappointment as even more guilt rises up, and follows Chanyeol as he finally moves away from Yifan’s PC.

“Baek, no, I’ve found him.”

The smaller man rounds the corner, eyes instantly landing on Kyungsoo standing just behind Chanyeol.

“Soo! My god, we thought you got mugged in an alleyway or something!” 

Kyungsoo can almost smile at his dramatics, but he just worries at his lower lip, feeling to upset about this whole situation.

“Where were you?” Baekhyun scolds, ruffling Kyungsoo’s short hair.

“Er,”

“He was with GalaxyFan in the back of the building.” Chanyeol answers, still looking vaguely like he was in shock. 

“The hot anime guy?” Baekhyun shrieked, clutching onto the nearest chair.

Kyungsoo suddenly felt very, very tired.

“He was just showing me the game he was playing.”

“It’s fine,” Chanyeol brushed the words away, putting an arm around Kyungsoo’s shoulders and pulling him close. “They were just over in the back. I never would’ve thought to look for him at the PCs. I’m glad you’re safe, Soo.”

Chanyeol gives him a heart-melting smile from above him, his fingers massaging Kyungsoo’s shoulder. 

Kyungsoo doesn’t know why it feels like he did something wrong.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I hope you all are doing well! this chapter is considerably longer than the previous ones, but a lot of stuff happens in it. things are getting intense o.O

When Kyungsoo wakes up, he groggily grabs his phone on the bedside table, checking the time. He notices it’s plugged in with a blue cord, which last he checked, was plugged in on Chanyeol’s side of the bed. He also recalls that his own cord is still stuffed in the bottom of his backpack, the main reason why his phone is always dead. Chanyeol must’ve plugged it in last night for him, but Kyungsoo can barely remember stumbling face-first on the bed and instantly falling asleep. 

It’s past 1 in the afternoon, which means that either Chanyeol already left to go to EXO or he took the day off for the both of them. The smell of bacon makes Kyungsoo suspect it’s the latter. 

Sure enough, Chanyeol peeks his head around the corner of the doorframe, a big grin instantly filling his face when he spots Kyungsoo already up, clutching his phone.

“G’morning, sleepyhead.” 

“More like afternoon, really,” Kyungsoo grouses, but he can’t help but feel the warmth in his chest at seeing Chanyeol. It never gets old to wake up to the sight of his soulmate.

Chanyeol walks over to the side of the bed and leans down to press a kiss onto the top of Kyungsoo’s head.

“Well, we all had a long night, so I figured we should take the day off.” He curls his hand around to Kyungsoo’s jaw, thumbing gently at the curve of his cheek.

Kyungsoo sighs and leans into it, closing his eyes.

“Thanks, Yeol-hyung.” 

“I made a big American style breakfast,” Chanyeol confesses, eyes twinkling. “We should eat before it gets too late in the day.”

Kyungsoo allows Chanyeol to kiss the corner of his mouth one last time before he pushes the taller man away, shucking the sheets off.

Chanyeol isn’t joking when he says he’s made a big breakfast. There is a plate piled high with bacon, slightly chewy, the way Kyungsoo likes it. Eggs done sunny-side-up bubble in the pan and Chanyeol’s famous peanut-butter and chocolate chip pancakes are stacked high on the table.

Kyungsoo whistles softly and his stomach grumbles. He grabs a strawberry out of the pretty little china bowl. “Are Baek and Jongdae coming over or something?”

Chanyeol’s smile is so wide Kyungsoo thinks he can see a hundred teeth in his mouth at least. He wants to kiss him until their smiles get in the way. 

“Nope. Just you and me. Hope you’re hungry.” 

Kyungsoo assures him that, without a doubt, he’s always hungry for the famous peanut-butter and chocolate chip pancakes.

  
✰✰✰  
  
  
  


When the two of them have made quick work of the food and are relaxing with coffee, feet intertwined under the table, Chanyeol finally brings it up.

“So. Did you want to talk about last night at all?”

Kyungsoo stares desolately at the swirl of badly mixed creamer in his coffee.

“Nothing much to really talk about.”

Chanyeol cocks his head to the side. “I’m mostly wondering about GalaxyFan. I know he’s a pretty quiet guy from the few times I have seen him, but...I dunno, he wasn’t at all like I expected.”

Kyungsoo can attest a similar observation, but probably not in the same way as Chanyeol was thinking. 

“Yifan was just covering for me. He thought you were mad at me.”

“Yifan? That’s his name?” 

Kyungsoo nodded, recognizing the genuine curiosity in Chanyeol’s eyes.

“He was showing me his game, but I asked him to. He’s the quietest guy I’ve ever met. He talks less than me, but I think he’s just shy. I was hoping to bring him out of his shell.” Kyungsoo admitted.

Chanyeol’s foot tapped on the ground absentmindedly and Kyungsoo felt the vibrations on his calf that was resting across Chanyeol’s leg.

“What game?”

Kyungsoo thought hard, recalling the pretty scrolled letters in gold and complicated rules. “League of Legends.”

Chanyeol nodded and Kyungsoo felt oddly tense, as if Chanyeol might somehow be upset at this.

“Did he show you how to play?”

“Er. No, only the rules. I watched him play two games.” 

Then, Chanyeol grinned broadly and the weird, sticky feeling in the air dissipated.

“How would you like if I taught you how to play? Next time you see him you’ll show him up.”

Kyungsoo nodded slowly and the warmth in his chest expanded with his smile. 

  
  
  
✰✰✰   
  
  
  


Except, Do Kyungsoo was not able to show up Yifan because he did not come to EXO PC Bang and Restaurant. 

Kyungsoo felt oddly put out because of it. He spent much of his days mulling over the only rational explanations for this outcome while stuffing his face with shrimp crackers. 

  1. Yifan was offended by Kyungsoo and Chanyeol.
  2. Yifan felt like he did something wrong and was avoiding Kyungsoo.
  3. Yifan didn’t like Kyungsoo in the first place and was avoiding him.
  4. Yifan was creeped out by Kyungsoo and was avoiding him. 
  5. Yifan was a normal human being who was not obliged to spend every day at a PC bang and restaurant.

Kyungsoo wasn’t gonna lie, he realized perfectly well that Yifan was an interesting person and he was obsessing over him slightly.

Only _ slightly _.

But really, who wouldn’t be interested in Yifan? He looks like an anime character, spends almost 24-hours playing video games, has frighteningly bushy eyebrows and is frustratingly hard to make friends with. 

He was nothing like Kyungsoo had ever seen before and he chalked it up to a bit of hero’s worship. 

However, it had been two weeks since The Incident and Kyungsoo was getting restless. 

Chanyeol seemed to be well aware of Kyungsoo’s concern over Yifan’s absence and would even ask Baekhyun if he had seen him on his shifts.

“Hey, did Yifan stop by today?”

Baekhyun squinted, his raspberry colored bangs falling in his face. “Who?”

“Er, you know. Tall. Silver hair.” Chanyeol waved his hands around in a helpful approximation of Yifan in general.

“Ohhh, the hot guy. Nope. Why do you ask?” Baekhyun pried curiously. 

“Kyungsoo has a 1v1 in League waiting with him, but the guy has been avoiding his duty.”

Baekhyun, if possible, looked even more confused. “Since when did Soo play League?”

So the Yifan-draught went on and Kyungsoo kept on making trips to the convenience store next door to restock the shrimp chips and chocolate mushrooms. He was pretty sure the cashier lady knew him by name.

That is, until a petite man with delicate features stormed into EXO at seven in the evening, rounding on Chanyeol at the front desk before he could even utter a greeting.

“Do you know where Wu Yifan is?” He demanded, fists pushing down onto the counter of the desk. 

Kyungsoo’s head snapped up instantly at the name, his hand stilling with a shrimp chip midway to his mouth.

“You know Yifan?”

“Do _ you _?” The man shot back. 

Chanyeol stood up from his chair, using his intimidating height to effectively quiet the other man.

“We know him. He hasn’t been here in over two weeks. Are you friends with him?”

The man sighed, pursing his perfectly-shaped lips. “Something like that. It’s been...a while since I’ve talked to Yifan, but I haven’t been able to contact him lately and I’ve been worried. I know he frequents PC bangs and you guys were the last on my list, so I figured I check.”

Kyungsoo thoughtfully chewed the shrimp chip, eyeing the other man suspiciously. 

“We know him. He hasn’t been here in a long time, though.” Chanyeol admitted. “What did you say your name was?” 

“I didn’t.” The man snarked. “I’m just looking for Yifan.”

Kyungsoo brushed his hands off on his jeans and stalked towards the man.

“Look, I don’t know who you are and I don’t really care, but we’re worried about Yifan too. Where can we find him?”

The man stared at Kyungsoo, his eyes narrowing. There was a long silence, but if Kyungsoo was good at one thing, it was winning a dead-silent staring contest. 

Sure enough, the other man relented, nodding like he deemed Kyungsoo acceptable.

“Very well. I’m Luhan and we have one last lead on Yifan. I know a guy.”

✰✰✰

That was how Kyungsoo and Chanyeol found themselves handing the bridge over to Baekhyun and following a perfect stranger out into the city at nearly eight o’clock at night. 

“How long have you known Yifan?” The man named Luhan asked as he lead them through the streets, not bothering to glance behind and check if they were following.

“Well,” Kyungsoo started awkwardly. “I’ve only seen him twice,”

Luhan’s step visibly faltered.

“But he owes me a game. We’ve been worried.”

“He used to come regularly,” Chanyeol added. “Almost daily. Kyungsoo is usually in his kitchen, so he didn’t meet Yifan until just recently. Now he’s stopped coming altogether.”

The other man hummed quietly, almost too quiet for Kyungsoo to catch.

“Yifan doesn’t really make...friends. I must admit I’m surprised to have found two of you who are also looking for him.”

Truthfully, Kyungsoo can understand that. Yifan isn’t the most approachable person and also not very sociable once approached. However, he is a good man and Kyungsoo is surprised that he’s apparently been missing for two weeks and no one has noticed.

“Anyways, I must admit that me and Yifan aren’t quite on good terms as of late,” Luhan breaks in. 

Chanyeol glanced at Kyungsoo, who purses his lips but stays silent.

“What do you mean? Had a fight?” Chanyeol asks, not shying away from a clearly touchy subject.

“Something like that,” Luhan mutters. “We don’t always see eye to eye and we’ve made mistakes. Unfortunately, Yifan is pretty flighty and he gets spooked easily.”

“Well, no worries. I’m sure you guys will patch it up when we find him. Even me and Soo fight every now and then.”

Luhan coughs. “Also. I haven’t actually seen him face-to-face in a few years.”

This time, Chanyeol actually stops in his tracks.

“Alright. That might be a little bit harder to fix.” 

Luhan just shrugs. “‘Our falling out was not very pretty. However, I’ve realized my mistakes from the past and I try to look out for him even if we don’t talk anymore. I’ve been keeping an eye on him lately, but when he totally disappeared for over a week I began to get concerned.” 

Kyungsoo nods. It’s understandable that Luhan would worry for his friend, although he wonders how exactly the other man had been keeping track of Yifan despite the two of them not being on speaking terms.

“We’ll help you find him,” Chanyeol assures. “Where are you taking us? I assume he’s not at home.”

Kyungsoo can’t see Luhan’s expressions from where he walks behind him, but the other man lifts a hand to rub at the back of his neck. The silence stretches on. They are in the more run-down parts of Goyang now and Kyungsoo kicks at a beer can that is illuminated in the yellow light from the street lamp.

“I understand you guys don’t know a lot about Yifan,” Luhan finally starts. “But there are some things he should probably tell you himself. So don’t ask me anymore, but Yifan doesn’t exactly have a home.”

Something sharp lodges itself in Kyungsoo’s chest. Suddenly, the long days at EXO makes sense and Kyungsoo thinks back to Chanyeol’s description of EXO as a safe-space for all.

“You can find him though?” Chanyeol asks and his voice is rougher than usual. 

Luhan sighs. “I hope so. I think he’s got a friend that he’s been staying with lately.” 

Kyungsoo feels a sigh of relief loosen from his chest. 

“Hey!”

The three of them turn at the sound of a voice ringing out in the darkness.

“Oh shit,” Kyungsoo hears Luhan mutter and the tight feeling returns.

A figure saunters out into the light of the nearest lamp post.

“Is this bad?” Kyungsoo hisses to Luhan.

“You should probably pray that it’s just a poor lost person wondering what the directions are to the nearest hotel.” The other man says unhelpfully.

“What are a bunch of kids like you doing out this late? Don’t you have a curfew?” A man stands there casually, hands shoved in his pockets. He had a dark grey hoodie on and a beanie pulled low over a shaved head.

Chanyeol, ever the protective watchdog, steps forward. “Do we look like kids to you? Besides, it’s not even that late. If this is late to you, then you’re too old.” 

The man across from them chuckles, his broad cheeks jiggling slightly. 

“Cute. Well, I’m just going to cut to the chase here ‘cuz I ain’t got time to talk. I only need your money and pretty things and I’ll be on my way. No one gets hurt, just that sweet and easy.” He holds up his hands in an almost placating manner.

“Dear lord,” Luhan mutters and Kyungsoo eyes his delicate frame dubiously. Well, he’s got confidence in Chanyeol anyways and this guy must be out of his mind to threaten three men at once. 

“Fuck off, man,” Chanyeol growls and stalks over to cover Kyungsoo. 

The man sighs and it makes a whistling noise through his teeth. He tugs on the round, black stud in his ear.

“Fine. You fuckers always wanna go for the fight, huh?”

The hairs on the back of Kyungsoo’s neck prickle and on pure instinct, he turns around.

There are four other men behind them, looking just as amused as the first.

“Chanyeol,” Kyungsoo immediately shoots his hand out and yanks Chanyeol around. His boyfriend only takes a second to assess the situation, which is just as long as it takes the muggers to attack.

Luhan shrieks before they even reach him and the sound pierces the air like a siren. Kyungsoo barely has a moment to appreciate Luhan’s range and lung capacity before he feels a foot plant itself in his side and he goes down with a huff of pain as the air leaves his lungs. He scrambles to his feet, but his attacker is fast and lands a punch to Kyungsoo’s gut. Vaguely, he hears Chanyeol’s grunts of defiance, but Luhan has gone quiet. Either he’s being muffled or he’s unconscious and Kyungsoo isn’t sure he wants to know. 

“C’mon you bastards, you’re outnumbered anyways,” One of the men says and Kyungsoo almost agrees. If they just handed over their stuff now, no one would get hurt. Who knows what weapons these guys have?

The thought was quickly shoved away as he dodged another fist coming at him, his opponent aggressively swinging. 

“Shit,” Kyungsoo hisses as he punches the man and it barely makes him pause. He doesn’t have time to even register the next hit, just the blinding pain and a sickening crack as his head flys back and he drops on his ass. 

The next thing he knows, his attacker has him in a headlock, Kyungsoo’s vision spinning as he reels from the punch.

Barely on the edge of consciousness, he notices that Chanyeol is still on his feet, but facing two of the men. It’s almost a close fight because of Chanyeol’s height and strength, but he doesn’t notice the glimmer of silver in the hands on the ringleader. 

Kyungsoo, however, does.

“Chanyeol!” Kyungsoo manages to shout, but it’s too late. He watches the man start stabbing motion with the knife and then he feels an elbow to the side of his head, knocking him down against the concrete, his cheek pushed painfully against the rough ground. 

“Chanyeol!” Kyungsoo tries to scream again, feeling a burning panic settle in his bones. Tears blur his vision, but all he can see is the ground anyways. 

His mind conjures up the rest of the scene. The knife, finding its mark in Chanyeol’s belly, Luhan crumpled on the ground.

Kyungsoo can only listen for the scream of pain.

Yet, it doesn’t come. 

In fact, Kyungsoo considers if the blow to his head has impaired his hearing at all, because the only thing he hears are the grunts and swearing of the attackers, which sound completely different from before.

This time, it sounds like _ they’re _ afraid.

“Kyungsoo!” 

That is not Chanyeol’s voice. It is most certainly not Luhan’s voice.

“Y-Yifan?” Kyungsoo whispers and suddenly the weight of lifted off his back and he hears a loud thump as a fist connects with his assailant. 

A hand grabs his shoulder and bodily turns him over and Kyungsoo is staring up at concerningly wide eyes and an unmistakable set of eyebrows furrowed over them.

“Are you okay?” Yifan instantly asks, eyes darting up and down Kyungsoo for any visible wounds.

“I’m fine, god, I’m okay,” Kyungsoo tries to breathe out, but he can barely think. He’s not hurt, really, just a bit bruised and battered, it’s Chany--

“Fuck, Chanyeol!” Kyungsoo immediately lurches to his knees and instantly regrets it, his head spinning with pain. Yifan steadies him with a large hand, but Kyungsoo protests.

“Sh, he’s fine,” Yifan reassures him, gently moving away so Kyungsoo can glance over his shoulder.

Instead of seeing Chanyeol injured, he sees an unfamiliar figure executing a perfect roundhouse kick to the face of the leader. At first he thought it might’ve been Chanyeol, as the man was of similar height, but there was a slender, panther-like grace to him that was admittedly not 

something Kyungsoo would recognize from Chanyeol. Besides, if his coordination didn’t give him away, his goddamn ninja skills did.

Kyungsoo’s jaw dropped as the man easily downed all three of the other men. The fourth is unconscious besides Kyungsoo and the fifth seems to scrambled off during the fight.

“Holy shit,” Kyungsoo mouths as the ninja calmly dusts his hands off after finishing an aggressively dominant kick that slammed down on the head of the last attacker. His thin chest is barely heaving after the impressive display of talent. 

Immediately, Kyungsoo’s eyes fall to where Chanyeol is propping Luhan’s head up in his arms, the smaller man still unconscious. 

“Chanyeol,” He calls out, scrambling out of Yifan’s grip. The other man lets him go.

On wobbly legs, Kyungsoo rushes over to where Chanyeol is, his boyfriend immediately glancing up with worry in his eyes. He reaches a hand out and curls it under Kyungsoo’s jaw as the other sinks to his knees, throwing his arms around Chanyeol’s neck. 

“Thank god you’re okay,” Chanyeol sighs and Kyungsoo’s chest hurts at the crack in his voice.

Chanyeol rubs Kyungsoo’s back comfortingly and the worry drains out of his body, sagging against Chanyeol.

He feels something pushing at him insistently and looks down to see Luhan regaining consciousness, pushing at Kyungsoo’s side.

“Ge’ off me,” The man mutters, his voice strained. 

“Oops,” Kyungsoo says as he realizes he’s half laying on Luhan in his desperation to hold Chanyeol in his arms. 

He scoots away and lets Luhan get some air, the other man rubbed his head, face contorted in discomfort.

“Ah, shit, that was not supposed to happen,” He muttered. “You guys scared them off?”

Chanyeol glances up and Kyungsoo realizes Yifan and the stranger are still patiently standing behind them.

“Not us,” Chanyeol says.

Luhan visibly follows his gaze and his own eyes widen.

“Ah.”

“Luhan,” Yifan growls.

“Yifan,” The petite man returns. “I’m glad to see you safe and sound.”

Yifan raises an unimpressed eyebrow. “I wasn’t exactly the one in danger.”

Luhan bites his lip and Kyungsoo is surprised to see him lose his facade for the first time this night. “No. You’re right. But still, it was your absence that concerned me.”

“I have been absent for a very long time and it was never a concern. What made you decide all the sudden that you should risk your life to come look for me after we haven’t talked for years?”

Kyungsoo doesn’t think he’s heard Yifan say that much in one take before and it’s jarring. The man seems oddly human in the dim light. His hair is the color of dulled metal and the shadows blur his height and the severe sharpness of his features. 

“I’ve only been out of your life because you did not want to see me. That didn’t mean I wasn’t watching over you.” Luhan says softly.

“It’s too dangerous here. I will walk you all back, but don’t expect me to stay with you, Luhan.” Yifan’s words are as stony as his face. 

His friend, dressed in dark, ratty clothing, drags one of the unconscious muggers to the side of the building so that he isn’t accidentally ran over while halfway lying in the street. The kid, as Kyungsoo can see now that he appears much younger than expected, moves the deadweight with an ease that impresses and also slightly terrifies Kyungsoo.

“I don’t expect you to stay with me. But let me help you find a safe place to stay. Please?” Luhan grits out.

“I can’t accept that.”

“That’s ge’s way of saying ‘fuck off’.” The dark figure says lightly and Kyungsoo must’ve guessed right about his looking younger, as his voice is light and airy, a total shock considering his brooding image. His Korean is even more accented than Yifan’s and Kyungsoo thinks that’s what makes him sound so young.

Yifan just raises an eyebrow at Luhan, opting not to respond.

“We should get out of here,” Chanyeol says brightly. There’s blood trickling out of his nose and into the corner of his mouth, but he isn’t paying any attention to it.

Kyungsoo can’t agree any more. Chanyeol appeared to be the only rational one here and he was suddenly deeply grateful to have his boyfriend by his side. He reached down and grabbed Chanyeol’s hand, squeezing it. 

“He’s right,” Yifan rumbled and waved a beckoning hand at his younger friend, who immediately glanced up sharply.

“I’ll stay gege. See you later tonight.” The boy said, flipping his hood up.

“Yifan is staying,” Kyungsoo and Luhan said simultaneously.

“I-” Yifan started, but Luhan cut him off.

“Fan, you’ve been off the grid for over two weeks. It’s dangerous down here and the weather’s only been getting colder. I can’t let you stay. I’m booking a hotel room for you, since my house probably isn’t an option. Bring the damn kid if you need to, god knows Xing has been worried sick over him too.”

Yifan groaned. “You’re in contact with Yixing?”

Luhan shrugged. “We have a mutual concern here. He keeps me updated on your whereabouts.”

“Keep Xing-ge out of this,” The dark-haired boy growled, rounding on Luhan. “I’m not staying at a fucking hotel out of your good will and I’m sure as hell not staying at your fucking house.”

Kyungsoo is vaguely impressed with the kid’s colorful language. 

“Look, why don’t the two of you stay at EXO?” Chanyeol suddenly offers.

Four sets of eyes swing over to him.

“The PC bang?” Luhan wrinkles his nose.

“Where?” The kid frowns deeply.

“Chanyeol,” Yifan chokes out.

It’s the first time Kyungsoo has heard him say Chanyeol’s name. The word sounds surprisingly fitting in his rough voice.

“Please think about it. You know you’re more than welcome there and it gives the kid a warm and safe place to stay.” Chanyeol wheedles. His eyes are nothing but gentle and reassuring.

“I’m not going anywhere,” The kid says instantly.

Yifan appears to mull over it for a second before his eyes land on his younger friend. He then glances over at Chanyeol and Kyungsoo.

Kyungsoo knows he isn’t very expressive, but he does his best to communicate with his face that Yifan is more than welcome to stay at EXO.

“Taozi, you’re coming with me,” Yifan says decisively.

“Ge!”

“No excuses. Let’s go before these bastards wake up.” Yifan instantly turns on his heel and starts walking away. 

The kid glances around, looking torn. Finally, he spits on the ground next to one of the muggers and then stalks off after Yifan.

Luhan is still frowning hard, but he seems to accept it how it is. 

Kyungsoo tightens his grip on Chanyeol’s hand and they make their way back to the PC bang.

  
  
  



	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The boys settle in at the PC bang, softness ensues.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you for being patient with me guys TT please enjoy!

“Well. Thanks for giving them a place to stay, I suppose,” Luhan says awkwardly. They have settled in Yifan and his friend, Zitao, or Tao, as he likes to be called, and Luhan is lingering by the doorway as if he doesn’t quite trust the two to not run out of the building as soon as he leaves.

“It’s not a problem,” Chanyeol says amicably. “We’re totally open to overnighters.”

Luhan stares off in between the rows of PCs, a wrinkle forming slightly between his drawn brows. 

“Look, keep the two of them safe. Yixing would have my skin if anything happened to Tao. I know Yifan can fend for himself, but he’s...not as strong as he thinks. He bears too much burden. I want to help him, but he won’t let me in. I’m expecting you two to do what I can’t.”

Kyungsoo feels like he’s just been handed a sword of power or something. He’s never been good with things like that.

“Of course, he’s safe with us!” Chanyeol is helpful and calming. He’s good at this. 

Luhan gives one last look towards the back of the building before sighing and leaving. The doorbell tinkles cheerfully in the silence of the night. 

Kyungsoo lets out the breath he was holding and collapses into Chanyeol’s side. The older man holds him tightly. His arms makes Kyungsoo feel safe. 

There are light kisses pressed to the top of his head, tickling him.

“I don’t think I’ve ever been as scared as I was tonight,” Chanyeol admits softly. 

“Me too.” Kyungsoo whispers.

“We’re safe now, though. I love you, Soo-yah.”

Kyungsoo kisses along Chanyeol’s collarbone ever-so-gently, feeling the rise and fall of his chest against his lips.

“I love you too.”

The words still make his stomach feel giddy, even after all this time. He thinks that he will never get tired of telling his soulmate that.

“Er...ge wanted to know if you guys had blankets?”

Kyungsoo and Chanyeol sprang apart to see a red-faced Tao standing awkwardly by the PCs. He still stands close to the sides of walls or furniture, never really turning his back to the door. 

“Of course!” Chanyeol says too loudly.

Kyungsoo laughs to himself as his boyfriend springs off with the lanky kid in tow, his movements overly large.

In the back of Chanyeol and Kyungsoo’s PC bang and restaurant, behind all the PCs, there is a lounge area with couches and beanbags. There are even baskets of plushies and pillows, which was insisted upon Chanyeol’s behalf. 

They were often used throughout the day, but they didn’t really get many overnighters. So really, it was probably not Baekhyun’s fault when his mouth dropped open at the sight of two very tall, very intimidating grown men snuggled up on the couches with Rilakkuma plushies accompanying them cutely.

“Wanna explain who the hell the scary kid is? He keeps looking at me like he wants to rip Rilakkuma’s head off and stuff it down my throat.” Baekhyun hisses, gripping the edge of the front desk counter like Tao was going to drag him out the PC bang with his own hands. 

Chanyeol looked totally unfazed despite their extremely draining evening.

“Ah. That’s Yifan’s friend.”

Baekhyun looked terribly confused. “So...I knew you guys were looking for Yifan, but why did you guys get a freebie with him? And Yeol, you have blood all over your face. I have to get up for work tomorrow and it’s almost midnight and I’m really confused.”

Chanyeol patted his friend’s shoulder consolingly.

“Go home, Baek-ah. Me and Soo will cover the rest of the shift. Get some rest and we’ll tell you tomorrow.”

Baekhyun gave a reluctant glance over to their guests. Kyungsoo was pretty sure he had seen Tao bare his teeth at Baekhyun.

“Well...if you say so. But don’t ignore this!”

Chanyeol smiled. It was big and comforting. No one could ever really resist his smiles.

“I wouldn’t dream of it. Now, go! Get some sleep.” Chanyeol shooed Baekhyun out, the red-haired man waving tiredly the two of them before he stumbled out the door.

Kyungsoo breathed out through his nose softly, rubbing at his temples. The PC bang seemed oddly quiet without the chatter of gamers at night. There was no one in this evening besides Yifan and Tao in the back. 

“I think we should close up for the evening.” Chanyeol said, tracing circles onto the thin skin over Kyungsoo’s wrist. 

“Seriously?” Kyungsoo felt his eyebrows raise in disbelief. Chanyeol almost never closed the shop. When he needed to take time off, he got one of the managers or Baekhyun to cover him. Otherwise, EXO was always there when people needed them. The fact that Chanyeol was voluntarily closing the shop meant that the events of the night must’ve affected him more than he showed.

“I want Yifan and Tao to get rest.” Chanyeol said, petting at the back of Kyungsoo’s head, where the hair was soft and short.

“Okay.” Kyungsoo agreed. Chanyeol never asked for anything, but when he did, Kyungsoo would grant it to him in an instant.

“Thanks, Soo. I’m gonna close up. You go check on our guests.”

Chanyeol planted on last kiss to the top of Kyungsoo’s head and then strolled off the switch their open sign light off.

Kyungsoo lingered for a moment, glancing at the curve of Chanyeol’s long body, the messy head of hair that he refused to brush. His ears stuck out in a way that made Kyungsoo’s chest feel too small. 

Then he spun around before Chanyeol could catch him looking and made his way over to the couches and beanbags.

“Need anything else back here?” Kyungsoo asked, leaning against the last PC desk. 

Yifan and Tao were sitting on the ground, Tao’s back to the wall and the nearest exit in front of him. Yifan was holding the younger boy’s hands in his lap. 

“No, I think we’re good. Need anything, Taozi?” Yifan asked quietly.

The dark-haired boy shook his head, staring at Kyungsoo. 

Kyungsoo didn’t mind. The kid’s behavior didn’t bother him at all. If anything, he felt the need to protect him. It was clear that Yifan was the closest type of family he had. Even if Tao appeared to be terrifying, there was an uncertainty in his eyes that Kyungsoo couldn’t ignore.

“Do you want some food? I always have some.” Kyungsoo offered.

Yifan looked at Tao and cocked an eyebrow in question, leaving the answer up to the boy. He just shrugged his thin shoulders, but there was a hopeful gleam in his eyes.

That was answer enough to Kyungsoo, though. 

“I’ll grab something from the back. You can come see my kitchen if you’d like.” He turned around, not bothering to check if anyone decided to follow.

He figured to not push either one of them right now. If they wanted to be around him, they would make that decision on their own. 

The kitchen was Kyungsoo’s safe place. It was cozy and usually warm from the heat of the oven, smelling like all his favorite foods that reminded him of home. Kyungsoo wanted Yifan to have the same kind of safe place. 

Fiddling with the knobs on the stove, Kyungsoo set the pot of leftover jjajangmyeon to heat up. He stared blearily at the red painted outside of the pot, feeling far more tired than he should be at this time. 

He was so zoned out that he almost didn’t hear the gentle scrape of silverware against the counters in the kitchen, alerting him to someone else’s presence.

Carefully moving, he turned to see Yifan’s quiet friend, Zitao, perched on the counter with his knees pulled up to his chin. He was watching Kyungsoo with dark eyes, following his every movement. 

“Hi,” Kyungsoo said.

Tao chewed on his finger nail thoughtfully, still staring.

“I hope you like jjajangmyeon.” Kyungsoo tried.

The boy’s eyes instantly flicked to the pot, as if assessing it’s danger level. He nodded slowly.

“Yifan told me about you,” Tao said finally. 

Kyungsoo felt oddly surprised to hear that. He supposed that it would make sense for Yifan to tell Zitao about the weird, small stranger at the PC bang who brought him snacks like it was bribery for something. He just couldn’t imagine what Yifan would possibly say about him.

“Ah,” Kyungsoo said, feeling a little bit at a loss for words.

“He’s only talked to you twice but he said you feel different from others.”

Kyungsoo raised an eyebrow. “Oh?”

Zitao glanced around as if he was checking for the tall figure of Yifan to walk in and then leaned forward conspiratorially. 

“He told me that he can tell you don’t like to talk, yet you talk to him. He told me that you have good food and that you’re the tiniest person he’s seen.”

Kyungsoo scoffs. Jongdae was  _ definitely _ shorter than him, no matter how much everyone said otherwise. He wasn’t even that small anyways, Yifan was just a giant.

Tao had a little cuve to his mouth, like he was almost smiling or had just found Kyungsoo indignance amusing.

“He also says that Chanyeol-ssi is your very loud and very tall boyfriend.”

Kyungsoo blinked. “Y-yeah.”

Was Yifan offended? He knew it. Yifan had looked so uncomfortable when Chanyeol had hugged Kyungsoo. Did Yifan not want to stay at the PC bang because of them? Was Tao offended too?

“He’s never met someone who is almost as tall as him.” Tao is definitely smiling now and it soothes Kyungsoo’s panic, if only slightly.

“Yifan is tall,” Kyungsoo says distractedly.

“So am I,” Tao offers.

He jumped down off the counter with the grace of a cat and swung around the kitchen island to stand in front of Kyungsoo. He is indeed tall, towering over Kyungsoo, but not as tall as Yifan or Chanyeol. His hair falls in front of his eyes and Kyungsoo feels the urge to take out his scissors and give Tao a trim like he does for Chanyeol when his boyfriend forgets to get a haircut.

“Does Yifan not like Chanyeol?” Kyungsoo asks, unable to keep quiet about it any longer.

Tao cocks his head, eyebrows furrowing slightly under his bangs.

“Why would Yifan not like Chanyeol-ssi? He is tall and pretty and nice.” 

Kyungsoo almost laughs out loud at the admiring expression Tao has. Chanyeol often has that effect on people.

“He is.” Kyungsoo says and leaves it at that, turning back to the pot on the stove, where the sauce is bubbling just slightly at the sides.

He feels a warmth appear at his side and realizes that Tao is standing just behind him, glancing over his shoulder. Kyungsoo hides a smile. The boy looked terrifying, but he was talkative and sweet once he warmed up. 

“Wanna taste?” Kyungsoo grabs the pair of chopsticks he set on the counter and snags some of the noodles, holding it up as an offer. 

Tao nods instantly and opens his mouth like a baby bird.

Kyungsoo’s heart melts and gives Tao the bite of noodles. The boy’s eyes widen as he chews and the excited little wiggle he gives makes Kyungsoo want to pat his head.

“Is it good, Taozi?” A now-familiar voice rumbles from the doorway.

Tao turns in a ballerina-like spin to face Yifan, who has his arms crossed, but an indulgent look on his face. 

The younger boy nods enthusiastically. “Yes, ge! Try some!” 

Yifan glances over at Kyungsoo, who shrugs and grins softly, beckoning him with the chopsticks.

“Alright, I’ll bite,” Yifan says and Kyungsoo almost chokes at the cheesiness of the pun. He’s not sure if Yifan meant it intentionally, because his face gives away nothing, but there’s a twinkle in his eyes and Tao laughs loud and high. It contrasts strongly with the dark, manly image he exudes.

Plucking up a few more noodles, Kyungsoo lifts the chopsticks to Yifan. He considered just handing him the utensils, but half of him feels the desire to feed the tall man and the other half wants to imagine him as a baby bird, just as he did with Tao.

Yifan bends down so his face is at an acceptable height and obediently parts his lips. Kyungsoo is struck with just how small and delicate his mouth is, whereas the rest of his face is strong, harsh features. 

Quickly, Kyungsoo pushes the noodles forward into Yifan’s mouth to distract the weirdness of his thoughts and the tall man looks insufferably cute as he tries to close his mouth around the too-big serving without dropping noodles on the floor. His cheeks puff outward and his eyebrows furrow. Kyungsoo is still amazed at their expressiveness.

Tao giggles as Kyungsoo takes pity on Yifan’s fumbling hands and red cheeks, adjusting the chopsticks to catch the noodles before they fall, shoving them back in Yifan’s mouth.

He covers his face with one of his enormous hands as soon as Kyungsoo pulls the chopsticks back, but grunts in appreciation as he chews.

“Can I have more, Kyungsoo-ssi?” Tao says instantly, rocking back on his heels.

Kyungsoo couldn’t have said no if he wanted to, Zitao’s curved smile reminding him of the mischievous playfulness of Jongdae.

Stepping up on his tiptoes, Kyungsoo opens the cabinet above him where the white plastic bowls are held. They have cute little pictures of puppies and kittens eating ramen drawn on the outside.

Before his fingers can just barely close around the rim of the bowl, there are another pair of hands reaching over him and easily grabbing them.

“Ah, these cabinets are for Chanyeol, huh?” 

Kyungsoo stares at Yifan, who is just barely smiling, the only evidence that he’s teasing Kyungsoo.

“I’m not short,” Kyungsoo scoffs.

Yifan counts out three bowls, pauses, and adds another. “I never said you were.”

“Fine. Okay.” He huffs out, but really, Kyungsoo isn’t bothered. 

He scoops out heaps of the jjajangmyeon in the first two bowls and hands them to Tao and Yifan. The younger of the two immediately digs in, scarfing down the noodles like a starved man. Kyungsoo seriously hopes that isn’t because he’s  _ actually _ starved.

Yifan waits until Kyungsoo has served the other two bowls before he tentatively starts to eat, watching Kyungsoo’s movements.

Which is when Kyungsoo realizes that he’s holding one too many bowls.

“Ah, I forgot Chanyeol is closing up.” He mutters.

“Just give it to him,” Yifan comments.

Kyungsoo turns to look at him. As usual, his facial expression are blank, but Kyungsoo’s slowly learning how to read the quirks of his eyebrows or the words conveyed by his eyes.

“Well. Okay. I’ll go find him.”

“He’s right here,” Yifan says matter-of-factly, glancing pointedly behind Kyungsoo.

Ah, well then. He’s still working on reading Yifan’s expressions it would seem. Doing his best to not look surprised, Kyungsoo turns to see Chanyeol leaning against the doorway to the kitchen, watching the three of them. He feels oddly exposed, even though it’s just Chanyeol.

“Yeol,”

His boyfriend grins and its familiarity is comforting. 

“Ah, thanks Soo.” He takes the bowl out of Kyungsoo’s hands.

Kyungsoo swallows. “It wasn’t me--” He waves in the general direction of Yifan, who is calmly eating his jjajangmyeon.

Tao stares unabashedly at Chanyeol.

Ever the attention-lover, Chanyeol notices and preens, flashing his biggest smile.

“Tao, how it is?”

The boy nods furiously, his bangs bouncing on his forehead.

“Very good, Chanyeol-ssi!”

“Call me hyung,” Chanyeol pets Tao’s hair and Kyungsoo can practically see the boy vibrating with excitement.

“Hyung,” Zitao mutters under his breath, wonderstruck.

Kyungsoo catches Yifan’s gaze and the other man raises an eyebrows and smiles just big enough for Kyungsoo to see a flash of his gums. 

He feels that tired tightness in his chest again and thinks that he should really get some rest before his catches a cold or something.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the boys enjoy some video games at jongdae's party!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and extra update since I've been lacking!

Yifan and Tao’s presence at EXO soon became normal. After Baekhyun and Jongdae had been adequately filled in on what was going on, they soon became used to the two very tall and intimidating men who were camped out with the Rilakkuma plushies.

Luhan’s way of checking in on them is calling the EXO phone at all times of the day and nagging Chanyeol.

“Hello, this is EXO PC bang and restaurant, Chanyeol speaking, how many I help you?”

“Are you telling Yifan to rest his eyes? That much computer isn’t good for him. I saw an article about someone who had permanent eye damage because of looking at a screen too long.”

“Luhan, you called twenty minutes ago.”

“I just found the article now!”

“Text my  _ actual _ phone number if you have questions or comments, hyung.”

“I’m not a damn customer and when did I say you could call me hyung? Hey, did you hang up? Park Chanyeol you better not have hung up, I’m callin--”

Otherwise, Yifan and Tao were extremely quiet guests, not disrupting a thing, save for the frantic, motherly calls from Luhan. So quiet in fact, that it resulted in extreme boredom, especially from the restless younger one. It was driving Chanyeol up the wall just from seeing their boredom. 

When Chanyeol finally found Zitao practicing his nunchucks in the public bathroom, he decided it was time to give them something to do.

“What do you think about a job?”

“A...job?” Yifan asked slowly.

“At EXO! Here!” Chanyeol grinned, but it was slightly hysterical. Zitao was doing backflips off the couch. 

“I’m not very good at anything,” Yifan admitted.

“You’re good, it’s fine!” Chanyeol clapped his hand on Yifan’s shoulder. “You and the kid are hired!”

Really, neither one of them were doing a real job, but at least it was something and Kyungsoo thought that it was helping alleviate Yifan’s guilt from staying at EXO without paying them. Even though he spent most of his time playing games, he also helped around at the PC bang. Tao wasn’t really one for games, but he loved the attention from the customers and had relieved Chanyeol of his position as front desk manager, even though he still was in habit of swearing far more than a kid like him really should.

Kyungsoo realized that he himself was playing more video games in the past week than he ever had in his entire life. Yifan was an excellent teacher, all quiet adjustments and concise explanations. 

The two of them would play a few matches of League of Legends and Kyungsoo would inevitably get his ass handed to him by the enemy team. He was eternally grateful to have Yifan on his team, as the older man would make up for his lack of skill. Kyungsoo wasn’t sure just how good Yifan was, but he was at least as good as Chanyeol for sure. 

Or better, as Yifan insisted.

“Hey, Fan, why do you never play with me?” Chanyeol whined.

“Ah, I don’t want to carry you.”

“You carry Soo!”

Yifan grinned. “That’s different, he’s still learning. You’ve been playing League for ages.”

“Ah, fuck you,” Chanyeol groaned, slumping half against Yifan’s chair and half on the actual man.

Kyungsoo still wasn’t sure how Yifan felt about physicality, but he never really showed discomfort around Chanyeol’s touchiness. Tao too, was extremely touchy and Yifan never complained. However, Kyungsoo still felt awkward about skinship and decided it would be better to not touch Yifan at all.

  
  


Only a little after Yifan and Tao were ‘hired’, Jongdae decided to host his birthday at EXO. Chanyeol roped off a section of the PCs with pink crepe paper ribbons, tying balloons to the back of the gaming chairs. Kyungsoo holed himself up in his kitchen, furiously cooking an unreasonable amount of food. Yifan, who was a surprisingly good cook, helped him out behind the scenes. Really, he was mostly chopping vegetables and wiping down the counters, but it was still helpful to Kyungsoo. He was also a quiet presence in the kitchen, something Kyungsoo appreciated, as his kitchen was not to be a messy, loud place. 

Girl’s Generation and Big Bang songs played quietly on Kyungsoo’s phone and every so often, 

Yifan would engage in a conversation with him. Kyungsoo would learn things like Yifan’s age. (28.) He was good at basketball. He liked music. He was Chinese.

There were also things that Kyungsoo didn’t learn, like why he and Tao didn’t have a home and why he had a falling out with Luhan, but Kyungsoo didn’t push him.

“I can’t believe Jongdae asked for a goddamn pizza for his birthday. There’s pizza shops all over! I’m not a pizza maker.” Kyungsoo found himself grumbling.

“Are those chopped hot dogs?” Yifan asked.

Kyungsoo felt like having a small breakdown as he stared at the little hot dog pieces that were cut so they boiled up into cute little octopus shapes.

“He said that it’s his favorite topping,” He muttered mournfully. 

Yifan gave an unimpressed glare at the offensive hot dogs.

“And of course I have to make him seaweed soup, because that’s tradition! I’m not foregoing the fucking tradition because Jongdae wants octopus hot dog pizza! And then I’ve gotta make normal food for the rest of us, which by the way, hyung, is that the bulgolgi burning? Oh my god--”

Yifan rushed over to the stove frantically.

“Ah, no, it’s just some of the sauce that fell over the side and is burning, it’s fine,” He reassured, prodding the meat strips around in the pan.

“Oh thank god.” Kyungsoo slumped against the counter with a sigh. He could feel his temples were damp with sweat. It was sweltering in the kitchen, despite the early cold temperatures of late September. He probably looked gross, with a splatter of gochujang across his shirt and an old apron yanked across his waist.

“Why don’t you take a break, Kyungsoo-yah?” Yifan said calmly, and Kyungsoo still wasn’t used to hearing him use affectionate titles. “The food’s pretty much done, I can take over from here.”

“Ah, but the bulgol--”

“The bulgolgi will be fine. It’s pretty much done. The pizza is done. The soup is fine. Go take a break,” Yifan waved his overly large hand at Kyungsoo and stirred up the bulgolgi again as if to placate him.

“Fine,” Kyungsoo groaned. Yifan was surprisingly bossy, as Kyungsoo quickly found out. He suspected it could explain why Zitao would often call him ‘duizhang’ instead of the usual ‘gege’. 

He untied the stained apron and tossed it over the barstool at the kitchen island and turned to leave Yifan with his precious, hard work.

“Oh and the cake! The cake has to be frost--”

“I’ve got it Soo!” Yifan hummed back, not even paying attention.

Kyungsoo stared forlornly at his kitchen. 

“Why am I even doing this,” He muttered to himself and then left.

In the bathroom, Kyungsoo quickly changed into his favorite dark jeans and sweater, splashing water from the sink onto his flushed face. His reflection glared back at him in the mirror, big eyes offset by angry eyebrows. Kyungsoo wondered if Yifan noticed his eyebrows like he notices the other man’s. Frowning, Kyungsoo fluffed up his fringe of hair on his forehead and attempted to look somewhat presentable for Jongdae’s party.

“Soo! Dae is here!” Chanyeol’s voice bellowed. Kyungsoo gave himself one last skeptical look in the mirror before he pushed open the bathroom door.

“Coming!”

Out front, Jongdae the birthday boy was jumping up and down, squealing about something hilarious or exciting. Baekhyun was next to him, his red hair freshly dyed and matching his skinny jeans in a way that was either extremely fashionable or terribly offensive to the eyes. Kyungsoo really couldn’t tell.

“Happy birthday,” Kyungsoo greeted, waving in acknowledgment.

“Thank you!” Jongdae grinned widely, showing off the kittenish curve of his mouth. “This place looks incredible! Did you guys do this all for me?”

“No, it’s for the Queen of England,” Kyungsoo said dryly.

Jongdae just whistled, grinning as usual. “It’s a damn good party for the Queen, then.”

Chanyeol appear behind Jongdae, clapping his hands over the smaller man’s shoulders.

“You ready for a whole day of gaming and stuffing your face, Dae?” 

Jongdae made an obscene noise. “Hell yeah, Yeol! You guys are the best.” 

“It’s all yours,” Chanyeol spread his hands magnanimously around the building. “Play to you sweet heart’s content.”

“Let’s get this party going then!” Baekhyun said excitedly, grabbing at Jongdae’s hands.

“Ah, you invited your friends, right?” Kyungsoo asked, thinking about the dinner that could feed a small army in his kitchen.

Jongdae waved his hand dismissively. “Yeah, yeah, a couple of idiots you’ve probably seen brooding around here. They should be here soon.”

Kyungsoo nodded, thankful that all the boys at least had inhuman appetites.

“Speaking of friends, where are Tall Dark and Handsome squared?”

Assuming that Jongdae was talking about Yifan and Tao, Kyungsoo jerked a finger back towards the kitchen.

“Yifan-hyung was just finishing up helping me with the food. I’m not sure where Tao is.”

“That kid better not be knocking over my collectable figurines with his nunchucks again,” Chanyeol said darkly.

“Dae! Come on! Let’s boot up one of these bad boys!” Baekhyun called from over at Jongdae’s Party Station, which was Chanyeol’s name for the area of PCs roped off with the pink crepe.

The front doorbell tinkled lightly and Chanyeol and Kyungsoo both turned instinctively to welcome a new guest to EXO.

“Welcom--” Kyungsoo started.

“Hey, assholes! Didn’t think you guys would show up!” Jongdae crowed in lieu of a greeting.

Two men ducked inside the building, grinning sheepishly.

The first one smiled sweetly at Jongdae, hugging him tightly.

“Happy birthday, Dae-hyung! We wouldn’t miss this for the world.”

The second man stood slightly behind, smiling in a way that was fitting for a seductive model. Both were considerably taller than Jongdae, but the second one even more noticeably so. 

“Oh, kiddos, let me introduce you to the guys!” Jongdae turned his friends to Kyungsoo and Chanyeol. “This is Jongin and Sehun. They’re brats, but I suppose they are pretty good friends too.” 

The two of them waved and Kyungsoo was struck by just how handsome the both of them were, in an otherworldly, idol-like way. 

Jongin, the shorter one, and Sehun, the taller one, had opposing features, but both were shockingly pretty. Leave Jongdae to befriend part-time models or something.

“Nice to meet you guys!” Chanyeol boomed and Kyungsoo lifted a hand in a lazy greeting. 

“Holy shit,” Someone said from behind them.

In all honesty, Kyungsoo was unsurprised to see Tao creeping by the PCs, eyes wide and staring blatantly at the two newcomers.

The younger man was as fixed-up as Kyungsoo had seen him yet, with his fluffy hair styled and dark skinny jeans on. Unsurprisingly, he was still outfitted in all black.

“Ah, that’s Tao,” Jongdae said, looking mildly concerned that the kid was standing tensely behind them like he was about to jump them with his ninja moves. 

“Hey, Tao,” The man named Sehun said. Kyungsoo wondered if ‘sultry gaze’ was his default mode or if he was playing with Tao. Jongin smiled in greeting, his eyes curving softly.

“Holy shit,” Zitao repeated. 

Tall, pretty and nice, Kyungsoo mused thoughtfully. 

“Alright!” Chanyeol interrupted brightly. “Now that introductions are in place, why don’t we play some games?”

  
  
  


To Sehun and Jongin’s credit, they seemed pretty unfazed by anything. Tao perched on the window ledges above the PCs and stared at the two of them like they might disappear if he blinked. With his knees pulled up to his chest, crazy mop of dark hair, and the dark aegyo-sal under his eyes, he looked like some weird, pining version of L Lawliet. 

They had started off by playing PUBG since Sehun liked it, but Jongdae eventually started whining about how the ‘game is bad anyways, it’s not my fault I’m dying’, so they switched at the word of the birthday boy. 

Kyungsoo was sitting behind them in one of the chairs, watching the five of them play League of Legends, joining Tao in his non-gamer solitude. It was then when Yifan suddenly materialized by the PCs that Kyungsoo realized he had been missing for the introductions and the beginning of the party.

Yifan took one look at Tao chewing on his nails and staring at the newcomers to sigh loudly. 

“Where have you been?” Kyungsoo asked as Yifan tentatively took a seat next to him, still eyeing Jongin and Sehun as if they might magically charm Tao and take him with them. 

“Finishing up in the kitchen.” The taller man replied.

Kyungsoo noted that he was wearing a nice pair of skinny jeans instead of his usual ratty, worn-through ones. His hair was neatly tied back in a ponytail and Kyungsoo could see where the roots were growing out. 

“Yifan-hyung!” Chanyeol called out, noticing the presence of the other man. 

In unison, the four other boys swung their heads to look at their new addition. Yifan looked distinctly uncomfortable and Kyungsoo noticed how he hunched his shoulders as a habit, attempting to shrink his broad frame into something smaller. 

Baekhyun and Jongdae waved to him before turning back to the game, but Jongin and Sehun looked curiously at him.

Kyungsoo cleared his throat. “This is Yifan, guys. Yifan, these are Jongdae’s friends, Sehun and Jongin.”

Sehun did the weird sultry smirk thing again so Kyungsoo assumed that it was indeed his default. He could almost feel the burn of Tao’s glare from behind him.

Yifan inclined his head slightly, which was one of the better greetings that you could get out of him. 

“Since when did you get so many friends, Jongdae-hyung?” Jongin said playfully, his pretty eyes blinking innocently. 

“Who are you kidding?” Jongdae scoffed. “I have tons of friends.”

_ He’s lying. _ Jongin mouthed and winked. 

Yifan’s eyebrows pressed together in a way that Kyungsoo realized was his confusion. Kyungsoo didn’t blame him, Jongdae’s friends were just so damn flirty. 

“Hey, wanna play, Yifan-hyung?” Chanyeol interrupted Sehun and Jongin from working anymore of their sexy witchcraft on unsuspecting guests. 

Yifan waved a large hand in the air. “No, no. Go ahead and play, Chanyeol.”

“C’mon,” Chanyeol whined. “You always brag you’re better than me, so you could probably show off in front of Jongdae.”

Baekhyun laughed loudly. “You think he’s better than Dae? You’re crazy, Yeol. No offense, hyung, but Jongdae is seriously fucking good! He does tournaments at PC bangs.”

A smug grin cracked across Jongdae’s face and he waggled his eyebrows up and down. “You are damn right, Baek. Sorry, Yifan-hyung, but I’m finally getting some respect around here.” 

He didn’t sound sorry at all. 

Yifan looked unimpressed as ever, shrugging lightly.

“I’ll play.”

Kyungsoo rolled his eyes, knowing that Yifan had a hidden competitive streak when it came to his video games. Chanyeol grinned and stood from his chair, giving a jaunty little bow and wave of his hands to the open seat. 

Yifan wiped his hands on the thighs of his jeans and sat in Chanyeol’s chair, fiddling around with the game.

“1v1?” Jongdae asked. “We’re done with our match here.”

“Fine by me,” Yifan agreed. 

“Hope you don’t mind an audience, hyung.” Jongdae purred.

Behind the two of them, Baekhyun, Sehun and Jongin had gathered next to Kyungsoo to watch. Chanyeol rested his hands on Kyungsoo’s shoulders from above him. Tao still observed quietly from the windowsill, dark eyes flicking between Yifan and Jongdae judgmentally.

Yifan glanced back at them, but all Kyungsoo saw on his face was smug reassurall. There was a tiny smirk playing at his mouth. He met Kyungsoo’s eyes and winked, quick enough for it to be passed off as a blink. 

Cocky confidence fit Yifan better than Kyungsoo would’ve thought. Yifan wasn’t the bragging type and he tended to stay neutral in competitive situations, but the set of his shoulders and glint in his eyes suited him well. Kyungsoo rolled his eyes. Leave it to Yifan to be arrogant about video games.

Kyungsoo glanced up at Chanyeol, who still stood above him, his fingers trailing absentmindedly along the collar of Kyungsoo’s shirt.

His boyfriend was watching Yifan with a contemplative look on his face, round eyes bright and thoughtful. Kyungsoo smiled to himself, enjoying the environment of the party even if he struggled to keep up with the pace of the games.

  
  



	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> drama begins to unfold as yifan's secrets are uncovered...

It didn’t take long for Jongdae and Yifan’s match to be over. After a few minutes, Jongdae was whining, jabbing the keys aggressively.

“Yifan-hyung, I’m sorry I was rude,” Jongdae said sweetly. “Can we have a rematch? I was missing some hp from tanking minions.”

“Sure,” Yifan said graciously. “If that makes you feel better.”

Baekhyun laughed loudly, slapping a hand on Jongdae’s shoulder. “Oh my god, Dae. Just admit you’re outclassed here.”

“A rematch.” Jongdae stubbornly insisted. 

“What lane do you play?” Yifan asked as the two of them booted up a new 1v1. 

“Mid.” 

“Ah, perfect. Me too. We’ll play your main, alright?” 

Jongdae shrugged, pouting. Kyungsoo tried not to laugh, but he didn’t often see Jongdae at a loss for words. He seemed to be unnerved by Yifan’s calm, composed expression.

“Fine. Syndra, then.” Jongdae gritted out.

Yifan nodded and scrolled through the colorful images of the characters until he picked out a purple-clad sorceress. Kyungsoo still had no idea who half the characters were, but he could at least follow along with the playstyle a bit. 

Much to Jongdae’s dismay, the match went just as quickly as the first. The minions spawned and the two of them danced around each other, dealing little spurts of damage. However, as soon as Jongdae committed in a fight, Yifan went in for the kill. His movements and reactions were far cleaner than Jongdae’s and he easily defeated the other player. 

“Fuck! Hyung, you’re seriously smurfing.”

“My god, Jongdae, I’ve never seen you get beaten this hard!” Baekhyun cackled, reveling in his friend’s failure.

“Sweet, sweet karma.” Tao said darkly.

Jongdae grimaced. “What did I ever do to you, kid?” 

“GG, for real. You’re not too bad.” Yifan said good-naturedly. His face seemed serious, but Kyungsoo could see he was trying not to laugh.

“C’mon, one more match,” Jongdae begged. “I just needed a warm up.”

“Yes, hyung, play again!” Jongin agreed enthusiastically. Sehun offered his support on that decision.

“I think I’ve heard enough from the peanut gallery.” Jongdae glared at his two friends.

Chanyeol sighed and Kyungsoo heard the amusement in it. “Ah, betrayed so easily by your friends, Jongdae-ah.” 

“Fuckin’ traitors.”

Kyungsoo had never seen Yifan look so comfortable around a group of loud, obnoxious people, let alone two strangers as well, but he seemed content sitting in the plush-backed gaming chair. There was an air of confidence to him, in the way his large hands controlled the mouse and keyboard, the way he surveyed the screen with focused eyes. 

“Let’s play Zoe.” Jongdae said decidedly, hands furious against the mechanical keyboard. 

Yifan nodded. “Sounds fine to me.” 

He scrolled around, typing some words into the search box above the characters list.

“You ready?” Jongdae glanced at his screen.

“Ah, shit.” Yifan muttered. “I don’t own Zoe.”

His opponent snorted and looked at him disbelievingly. 

“What do you mean you don’t own Zoe?” 

“I don’t own her on this account,” Yifan clarified. 

Jongdae pointed an accusing finger at him. “I knew you were smurfing! Well, log into your goddamn main account and let’s finish this once and for all.”

Except, there was a flicker of hesitation in Yifan’s eyes. It was subtle enough for no one to notice, but Kyungsoo saw his falter.

Then, he nodded and laughed.

“Fine, fine.”

“Yifan?” Zitao suddenly said from his perch, the first words he had spoken since the introduction. 

The older man turned slowly, his fingers pausing from where they were clacking against the keyboard. 

“Yes?”

“You don’t want to humiliate Jongdae too badly on his birthday, do you?” Zitao was smiling, but his tone was anything but playful.

“I think it’ll be fine.”

Kyungsoo got the distinct feeling that they were not talking about Jongdae’s pride here, but no one else seemed to notice. Sehun laughed again and Zitao dropped the subject at Yifan’s reassurance, instead preening at how Jongdae’s friend was noticing him. 

“Alright,” Yifan breathed. “Let’s do this.”

“We’re cheering for you!” Chanyeol said and Kyungsoo felt the vibrations of his laughter from where his hands rested on Kyungsoo’s shoulders. It was a comfortable and familiar weight. 

“Traitors!” Jongdae mourned, untangling his headphone cords from where they were curled around the monitor. 

Kyungsoo didn’t know why he felt so tense, there was nothing wrong. It was Jongdae’s birthday party and everyone was having fun and playing games. Yet, there was still a nagging feeling in the back of his skull that made him notice the way Yifan’s too-large hands traced the keyboard edges, softly illuminated red from the backlighting. He noticed the way that he shifted in the racer chair, as if he was sitting uncomfortably, or perhaps something was sitting uncomfortably in his mind.

Zitao looked oddly focused, the curve of his shoulders tight. Kyungsoo knew he was good at reading people, but in this moment, he wished he wasn’t.

The laughter and jokes were fading out and the smile had dropped off Jongdae’s face.

“Hyung, you didn’t invite me to the match, did you?”

Kyungsoo watched Yifan’s throat bob as he swallowed. “Yes. I did.”

A short, burst of laughter. “How did you get this name? I didn’t know it was open.”

“I...what?” Yifan cocked his head, eyebrows drawn once again. 

“Your gamer name on this account? ‘KRISWU’, it says. I didn’t know he deleted the account.”

“What are you guys talking about?” Chanyeol asked. 

“His name is KRISWU.” Jongdae said, as if that meant something. He looked like he was in a mild shock.

“No, actually it’s  _ Yifan _ Wu.” Chanyeol corrected and Jongdae’s jaw fell slack.

“Oh. My. God.”

Yifan’s face was nearing a concerning shade of green and Kyungsoo feared he might throw up.

“Oh, fuck.” Tao muttered. 

Sehun and Jongin looked confused. Baekhyun was squinting at the screen as if it would provide the answers to him.

“I knew your voice sounded familiar,” Jongdae’s voice cracked and he was staring at Yifan with a reverent look in his eyes.

“It’s - I’m not,” Yifan waved his hands around in a slightly hysterical manner. 

With almost inhuman speeds, Jongdae lunged forward, his hands scrambling to land on top of Yifan’s keyboard, half of his body falling over Yifan’s lap. Jongdae’s headphones were yanked off from around his neck and clattered unceremoniously to the ground.

“Holy shit.” Jongdae whimpered, staring at the screen, and Yifan’s nauseous expression only seemed to worsen. 

“Am I the only one who’s confused?” Baekhyun asked.

“You’re like...my  _ hero _ ,” Jongdae’s head slowly turned to Yifan and he abandoned the hijacked PC to grab Yifan’s shoulders and shake him slightly. Kyungsoo stood up quickly before Yifan had a panic attack with Jongdae half-straddling him, Chanyeol’s hands falling away from his shoulders. 

“Alright, that’s enough,” Kyungsoo frowned, pulling Jongdae away so Yifan could actually breathe. He sat slumped in his chair, eyes wide and staring into the distance. “Do you want to actually explain things or drool on top of poor Yifan here?” 

Jongdae looked like he was seriously contemplating the latter and Zitao hopped on the windowsill and stalked over, shoving Jongdae aside.

“Look, we’re past that life and we can’t fucking go back, okay? So leave your hero worship to yourself and let him fucking be.” Tao growled, placing a soothing hand on Yifan’s limp wrist.

“Hey, what are you even talking about?” Jongin rose to his feet as well, defensive over his friend. 

“Let the birthday boy explain if he wanted to bring it up so fucking badly.” 

“Zitao.” Yifan interejected harshly.

The younger man quieted instantly, but leveled his glare at Jongdae, who seemed torn between cowering from Zitao and staring at Yifan.

“You’re…” Jongdae started, dazed. “He’s like the world’s best professional League of Legends player. KRISWU.”

“Oh my god,” Baekhyun muttered. “That guy you used to never stop talking about? The one whose streams you used to listen to in order to fall asleep?”

“You did what?” Chanyeol asked, looking deeply confused. He was watching Yifan with those big, beautiful eyes and Kyungsoo was tired of everything being so complex.

“Look, it was my dream to be a pro player and you were the best! I learned Mandarin from watching your games!” Jongdae pleaded. 

“So let me get this straight,” Sehun interrupted. “Yifan-ssi is a professional League of Legends player who Jongdae-hyung likes. Besides the whole creepy falling asleep to his streams thing, what’s wrong with that?”

Jongdae worried at his lower lip and his brows flattened above his eyes in the way they always did when he was upset.

“About two years ago, KRISWU disappeared off the face of the planet. He had an incredibly successful streaming career and was internationally famous for his sheer talent and versatility in the game. There was no other player who could command every lane and champion with that unique playstyle of his. He even had offers from multiple esports organizations, but he was notorious for declining them all. He remained completely anonymous for his whole career, never showing his face, but when he suddenly was gone, people suspected the worst. Rumors went around that he was doing some illegal shit and got caught. Either way, no one heard from him and now he’s something like an urban legend in the community.”

Kyungsoo felt the tips of his fingers tingle oddly, almost like he was about to faint. The person Jongdae was describing sounded nothing like Yifan. Sure, he was good at League of Legends, but Kyungsoo never had the knowledge or skill to determine just how good he was. 

“I’m glad to hear they still speak of me.” Yifan said finally, voice dry. 

“Hyung...Kris,” Jongdae straightened up, eyes focusing. “Why did you leave?” 

Zitao’s head snapped up from where he was zoned out.

“Zitao…” Yifan started, but his companion turned on his heel and stormed out, not bothering to give another glance towards the group.

“Oh my god, should we…?” Jongin said, sounding concerned.

“No, no. Let him be. I’ll find him later,” Yifan laughed humorlessly. “Sorry this ended up being such a shitty party, Jongdae-ssi.” 

No one laughed, but Jongdae smiled sadly.

“It’s okay. It’s my fault, really.”

Yifan shook his head. “I owe you an explanation. I can’t tell you everything, but the bottom line is, I ran into issues that I had been avoiding for too long and was left with no choice but to run. After all these years, and I’m still a coward.”

“Yifan-hyung…” Chanyeol breathed softly and moved forward, placing a tentative hand on Yifan’s shoulder. Kyungsoo felt the need to place his own hand on the opposite shoulder so that they would look like Yifan’s guardians at his side. He didn’t, though, only stayed back by Jongdae and watched Chanyeol, tall above Yifan’s hunched form in the chair.

“Before I disappeared, I was planning on finally joining an organization. I had everything planned and it would be perfect. But shit happens and Zitao ran into some problems before my breakthrough. I didn’t know what to do so I took him with me and left the rest behind. I chose him over my career and for that he blames himself.”

“Ah, shit,” Baekhyun said softly. 

Jongdae just nodded slowly, seemingly processing the information. “Thank you for telling me. Go on, find Zitao. Tell him I’m sorry.”

“No, Jongdae-ssi, it should be me apologizing. We didn’t mean to crash your party like this. Let me make it up to you?” Yifan bowed deeply, face stoic.

“O-oh?” Jongdae looked stunned but pleased.

“Let’s play again under better circumstances. This time, you can be a part of my late night stream instead of just listening in.” He attempted a small smile, but it was like a ray of light breaking through the clouds.

There was a smattering of relieved laughter from everyone and Jongdae smiled, his mouth curving widely. “Damn, alright then. I’ll hold you to it.”

Yifan nodded and bowed again before excusing himself to seek out Zitao.

The group was oddly quiet as he left and Jongin kicked awkwardly at the ground, his chunky sneakers making a soft scuffing noise on the carpeting. 

“How about we go out for ice cream, huh? I’ll treat.” Baekhyun announced and Kyungsoo could have kissed him. 

Of course, he didn’t, but graced Baekhyun with a thankful smile. 

“Why don’t you guys head out. I’ll hold down the shop.” He said. 

Truthfully, he hoped to keep an eye on Yifan and Zitao and Chanyeol seemed to have read him mind.

“Ah, I’ll stay behind as well. Clean up.” The taller man said casually, tugging at the crepe paper that was wrapped around the nearest desk. 

Baekhyun gave them a weird look but nodded. “Alright kiddos, let’s go then, leave the old grandpas behind to clean I suppose.”

Sehun and Jongin trailed after Baekhyun and Jongdae followed, patting Chanyeol’s bicep and mouthing “ _ sorry” _ .

As soon as they left, Chanyeol and Kyungsoo turned to each other and said at the same time,

“Let me go check on them.”

“Let’s both go.” Kyungsoo compromised.

Chanyeol nodded and tugged affectionately on Kyungsoo’s earlobe. 


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you all for being patient! I've recently finished my college semester, and in the chaos of covid-19, things have been terribly busy. I hope you all are doing well!

It wasn’t too hard to figure out where Yifan and Zitao would be. Since it was open hours, their refuge on the couches was now public land, so the only other place they would possibly retreat to would be the kitchen. Chanyeol seemed to understand this as well and followed Kyungsoo unquestioningly. 

Sure enough, Zitao was curled up on the counters with his head buried in his arms and Yifan was softly petting his hair in a comforting manner. The latter looked up when Chanyeol and Kyungsoo entered, but Zitao stayed prone. Kyungsoo suspected he might be crying, judging from the gentle shake of his shoulders. 

“Yifan,” Chanyeol said, heart-wrenchingly soft. “We should talk.”

He nodded, staring gently at Tao.

“Of course.” He added something else in Chinese, but Kyungsoo realized that it was meant for Zitao when he saw the younger boy’s head nod ever-so-slightly. 

With one last pat on Tao’s mess of dark hair, Yifan turned to them and gestured that they should leave Zitao alone for now. 

“I’m sorry,” Yifan instantly said as he closed the kitchen door behind him. “For everything. Hiding from you guys, ruining Jongdae’s party. Everything.”

Chanyeol made gentle hushing noises. “You don’t have to be sorry for anything, Yifan-hyung.”

“We’re just worried about you and Zitao.” Kyungsoo added gruffly.

Yifan looked at him with his eyes wide and vulnerable. For once, his eyebrows didn’t dominate his facial expressions and Kyungsoo thought that he could read a thousand different stories in his eyes alone. With a deep sigh, he ran a hand through his hair, stopping at where the tie held it in a ponytail.

“It’s a long story.”

Kyungsoo shrugs. Does Yifan really think that they wouldn’t listen to him because of that? He knows that Chanyeol can’t help but always care for others and want to help them, so he knows his boyfriend must be dying here.

Yifan visibly took a breath, flattening his lips and flaring his nose slightly. “Many years ago, I had the dream of being a professional League of Legends players. I would watch all the esports players and imagine myself in that seat. I began streaming online and people noticed me. I took the name of Kris when I played and got Internet-famous. During this time, Tao was struggling. He was an artist living with his friends, really, no more than a gang of shitty kids who pushed him around. It was his dream to work beside me. He would create these beautiful characters and I would play them in front of thousands of people. Unfortunately, he had no money or family.

“Finally, last year, I was offered a contract with an influential esports organization. After almost two years of keeping my identity a secret, I was ready to finally face the world I had dreamed of for so long. Then, Taozi showed up at my doorstep bruised and broken, desperate for my help. Someone he thought he could trust had outed him as gay to his friend group and they didn’t take it well. He begged me to take him to Korea where he could have a second chance at game design without rumors of his sexuality going around. I took him, but unfortunately, we both lacked the money and the means. We spiraled out of control and ended up living on the streets again, Taozi selling his art for money and me trying to keep a job for longer than a week.”

Kyungsoo almost physically felt his heart break and thought he might throw up. Dizzily, he squeezed Chanyeol’s hand and without thinking, took Yifan’s hand in his other. The man jumped at the contact at first, but then closed his hand around Kyungsoo’s, enveloping the smaller one almost entirely. 

“I don’t regret it at all,” Yifan whispered, eyes pleading. “But he blames himself.”

“And Luhan?” Kyungsoo asked tentatively.

“When I told Luhan-ge of my dream, of our dreams, he argued with us and said we should go back to school and get a real education. Get a real job. He was the closest we had to family, but when he betrayed our bond, it broke both our hearts. It was an argument we never really recovered from and we’ve only drifted further apart over time.”

Kyungsoo saw Chanyeol’s eyes glittered with unshed tears. “I’m sorry.” He choked out, his deep voice thick with emotion. 

Yifan shook his head. “You shouldn’t be the one apologizing. Tao and I have no right to be putting our emotional baggage onto you guys.” 

“You have every right,” Kyungsoo said firmly, rubbing his thumb in comforting circles on Yifan’s palm. “You shouldn’t be alone in this.”

“You  _ won’t _ be alone in this,” Chanyeol corrected and Kyungsoo’s chest felt too small. “Let us guide you?”

Kyungsoo’s heart thudded in his ears at Chanyeol’s words and he could only imagine how Yifan might feel. Confused and hesitant, no doubt. It was a bold question to ask for Yifan’s complete trust after he had been let down so many times in the past, but Chanyeol was optimistic to say in the least. They still barely knew each other by many people’s standards, but Kyungsoo wanted to so badly that it scared him. He had no idea what to expect from Yifan and Tao, but even in the past weeks, they had fit together in a way that made Kyungsoo feel like fate was real. 

He glanced up at his soulmate, who fixed Yifan with those big, beautiful eyes of his, totally open and trusting. 

There were so many ways that this could fall apart and Kyungsoo didn’t even know if he had the resources to help Yifan and Tao, but, fuck, if he didn’t want to risk his everything to see them happy again. He wasn’t sure when it happened, but EXO felt terribly empty without Yifan’s quiet, imposing presence and Tao’s endless energy and high, clear laughter. 

Slowly, Yifan met their gazes, his dark eyes serious. Softly, he finally murmured a tentative “Please.”

Kyungsoo released a breath he hadn’t even realised he was holding and let out a shaky exhalation, almost a laugh of relief. Chanyeol grinned so wide, showing off endless teeth and his pretty dimple. 

“Fuck. Yes. Yes!” Chanyeol actually laughed this time and his hand was squeezing Kyungsoo’s firm and wonderful. “We’re gonna show you how to game so fucking hard and Tao’s gonna be artist-ing his ass off!” 

For the first time since Kyungsoo had met him, Yifan’s face broke open into the biggest smile he had seen. It was all gum, too stretched out at the corners, and his eyes crinkled like soft fabric. Everything felt so big and beautiful and strange and overwhelming.

“It’s gonna be okay,” Yifan breathed out softly, looking wonderstruck. “We’re gonna be okay.”

The aftermath of the party was far from perfect. Tao would still stubbornly put blame on himself and Yifan would still act vague and secretive at times. There was still tension between them and Luhan and they still lacked real jobs and homes. However, the improvement was visible. 

Jongdae had taken pity on poor restless Zitao and would take him out with Sehun and Jongin to the local noraebang and get him boba tea afterwards. Tao had latched onto Jongdae’s two intimidatingly gorgeous friends and followed them around like a loyal puppy in the guise of a buff and fierce-featured dude. 

Meanwhile, Yifan had started playing together with Chanyeol more, the two of them obviously working Yifan back up to his previous skill level in the game. During breaks, Yifan and Chanyeol would drag Kyungsoo out of his kitchen to play with them. Usually, it ended with Kyungsoo huffing in frustration and those two traitors attempting to hold back laughter at Kyungsoo’s awful gameplay. 

However, Kyungsoo knew that Chanyeol was serious about Yifan trying to regain his status as a professional player and he often caught his boyfriend researching esports organizations and events on the computer behind the front desk. Yifan still refused to play on his old account, but Kyungsoo saw the longing in his eyes as he would watch the customers playing on the PCs, the loud shouting of team communication mingled with the occasional cheers or even groans of frustration. Even though the concept was still strange to Kyungsoo, he felt the need to do whatever he could to help Yifan achieve his dreams.

Tonight, Baekhyun was on night shift, which meant that Chanyeol and Kyungsoo could technically go home for the evening. Although they both practically lived at EXO, Kyungsoo missed the cozy familiarity of their apartment where they had lived for years now. It was a good change to actually sleep in a bed for once and not on a couch or flimsy cot. 

He felt a pang of guilt as he thought of Tao and Yifan, who continued to make use of the couches at EXO. It would be perfect if there was also living quarters attached to the PC Bang, so that Chanyeol and Kyungsoo could just move in and their guests didn’t have to sleep in a glorified waiting room. Hell, Baekhyun and Jongdae could stay too if they wanted, even Luhan, if he had the inclination to nag Yifan even more than usual.

“What’s on your mind, baby?” Chanyeol sidled up next to where Kyungsoo stood behind the front desk, spacing out at the soft blue wall of his PC bang in front of him.

Kyungsoo sighed, shaking out the thoughts of some weird group house filled with all them and their friends and Luhan, for god’s sake. 

“Nothing.” He turned to nuzzle into Chanyeol’s collarbone, breathing in the gentle scent of dryer sheets on his clothes. 

“You’ve been pretty busy lately, huh?” Chanyeol’s hands petted softly at the layer of fuzz on Kyungsoo’s head.

“Something like that. I just want to make sure we can keep our promise to Yifan.”

“Of course we will. Tao has already started planning his debut live stream, returning as Kris Wu. It’s gonna be fuckin’ epic, he said.”

Kyungsoo laughed quietly. “I know it will.”

“Let’s go home, hm? It feels like it’s been weeks since we’ve actually spent more than an hour at home.” 

Kyungsoo nodded, but he felt right at home here, in Chanyeol’s arms and surrounded by the comfort of EXO.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (hmm also what do you guys think of ot3 china line reuniting on pd camp 2020?? aaaaa my heart I love them so much <3)


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> heads up: this chapter is literally just pwp ;)

“Kyungsooooooo. Soo-yah. Soosoo.”

“Hrmph.” Kyungsoo grunted into his pillow, feeling Chanyeol’s hot breath tickling the back of his neck. His boyfriend was feeling particularly handsy in the morning, wriggling around impatiently and sliding his cold hands up the baggy shirt Kyungsoo slept in. 

“Get up, Soo-yah. Please? Pleaaase?” Chanyeol crooned in Kyungsoo’s ear, pressing his hips shamelessly against Kyungsoo’s ass. 

“Wha’ time is it?” Kyungsoo groaned, but pushed back out of reflex, arching his spine into the contact. By the feel of it, Chanyeol had been left to his fantasies for quite a while, his arousal obvious. 

“Time for you to get up and fuck me, preferably.” 

“Okay, okay, fuck. Fine.” Kyungsoo huffed out a breath of air, playing it off as exasperation instead of a moan from the way Chanyeol was moving his hips in earnest now. “Get off me.” 

Chanyeol grabbed Kyungsoo, flipping him over so that the younger was straddling Chanyeol as he lay on the bed. Grinning, Chanyeol reached up and poked Kyungsoo’s nose.

“G’morning, sugar.”

Kyungsoo playfully made to bite his fingers, purposely making an angry face, although he knew Chanyeol wasn’t fooled. 

“How polite of you to finally say goodmorning to me,” Kyungsoo sighed before he leant down to nip at Chanyeol’s mouth. 

Immediately, Chanyeol fell lax under him, letting Kyungsoo kiss him deeply, running his tongue over Chanyeol’s teeth. Sucking Chanyeol’s bottom lip into his mouth, Kyungsoo ran his nails lightly over his boyfriend’s arms, revelling in the feeling of goosebumps prickling in their wake. There was nothing that Kyungsoo loved more than kissing Chanyeol. His boyfriend’s oral fixation certainly became more apparent as Chanyeol became all melty and pliant beneath Kyungsoo, happy to put his soft mouth and too-many teeth to work. 

“Fuck, why do you even wear so much clothes to bed,” Chanyeol groaned when Kyungsoo pulled back to mouth at his jaw. 

“I’m literally only wearing your shirt.” Kyungsoo said dryly, yanking at Chanyeol’s hair, but that only served to elicit a choked moan from the elder.

“Well, take it off. It’s offending me.” Chanyeol tugged the hem of the shirt up to Kyungsoo’s armpits, thumbing at his nipples on the way up. Obligingly, Kyungsoo abandoned his ministrations to Chanyeol’s neck and yanked the shirt the rest of the way off, flinging it over the chair on the opposite side of room. 

“You’re really beautiful, did you know that?” Chanyeol hummed, pressing his mouth against Kyungsoo’s toso the moment he was divested of the shirt. He left hot kisses down Kyungsoo’s abdomen, making the younger squirm impatiently, pulling at Chanyeol’s uruly bedhead. 

“You only tell me every day,” Kyungsoo sighed as Chanyeol gave cheeky bites at his pale thighs, knowing that Kyungsoo was sensitive there. 

“You deserve to be told it every fucking day.” Chanyeol glanced up at him through his lashes, eyes round and cheeks flushed. His mouth was red and glossy from their previous make-out session and the attention he had been giving Kyungsoo’s soft skin. 

“You’re so good to me, hyung.” Kyungsoo praised, running his thumb over Chanyeol’s lips, enjoying the way his boyfriend’s breath hitched at the honorific. Chanyeol wasn’t strict about honorifics, so Kyungsoo didn’t really bother with them around him, but it wasn’t long until Kyungsoo realized it was because his boyfriend preferred them to be used in the bedroom.

“Can I suck your cock?” Chanyeol said bluntly, nosing at the junction between Kyungsoo’s thighs and hips.

“I suppose…” Kyungsoo feigned reluctance to watch Chanyeol pout. 

Sure enough, Chanyeol’s lower lip wobbled slightly and he pressed his cheek against Kyungsoo’s thigh. 

“Soo-yah, don’t sound so reluctant. I’ve been good. Please?” 

Kyungsoo’s dick twitched and he figured they might as well skip the begging part, seeing as Chanyeol’s mouth was so deliciously close to his cock and he was already being so pliant.

“Alright, alright. Go for it,  _ hyung _ .” Kyungsoo teased. 

Chanyeol grinned widely before ducking his head down and immediately pressing feather-light kisses to the tip of Kyungsoo’s cock, purposely being petty. He gave kittenish licks around the crown, the corner of his mouth just barely giving away his cocky smirk.

“Hey, none of that now,” Kyungsoo growled, scratching at Chanyeol’s scalp. “You want to be good for me, right?”

“Of course,” Chanyeol pulled away to reassure quickly, but he still gave a cheeky wink.

As a rule of thumb, Chanyeol was very obedient in bed, but Kyungsoo knew he still had a bratty streak. He couldn’t resist teasing Kyungsoo or purposely ignoring any commands, because he knew it only got Kyungsoo even more riled up and that would inevitably lead to Kyungsoo being even more aggressive and dominant. Which was, of course, the entire purpose of Chanyeol being bratty.

Finally, Chanyeol properly got his mouth around Kyungsoo’s cock, pressing his fingers into Kyungsoo’s thighs firm enough for them to surely leave bruises later. Grunting quietly, Kyungsoo resisted the urge to thrust into the warmth of Chanyeol’s mouth, instead accepting that he would be endlessly teased by Chanyeol’s clever tongue. 

“Fuck. You’re so good.” Kyungsoo couldn’t believe how gorgeous Chanyeol looked underneath him, lips red and puffy around his cock, and eyes damp with his effort to take the whole length. He missed this, but it had been weeks since either one had the time to do anything more than a rushed handjob. Damn him if he was going to enjoy every second of time with his sexy boyfriend.

Chanyeol tongued over an especially sensitive vein and Kyungsoo couldn’t help the way his hips bucked ever so slightly, thrusting deeper into Chanyeol’s mouth.

His boyfriend moaned, sending vibrations that rumbled down Kyungsoo’s spine in electric heat. He felt like he was on fire and Chanyeol was everywhere, hot and wet and unrelenting around him. 

“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” Kyungsoo yanked back on Chanyeol’s hair, forcing him to release his cock with a slick popping noise. 

Chanyeol whined and immediately moved to take Kyungsoo’s cock again, but Kyungsoo shook his head, pressing his thumb into Chanyeol’s spit and precome slick lip. 

“I’m gonna come if you keep going.”

“So?” Chanyeol’s voice was wrecked already, even raspier and deeper than usual. Kyungsoo shivered despite the warmth in the room.

“So, I still want to fuck you.” Kyungsoo rumbled, resisting the urge to shove Chanyeol back down and fuck him into obedience. 

“Shit. Okay. C’mon, hurry,” Chanyeol moaned, squeezing Kyungsoo’s ass one last time before laying back and hooking his legs around Kyungsoo’s waist. 

“Impatient.” Kyungsoo tsked, slapping at Chanyeol’s thighs, but he grabbed the lube off the dresser and immediately slicked up his fingers, rubbing them slightly to warm it. 

Reaching down, he slipped a finger into Chanyeol, stilling as he realized his boyfriend was already loose and wet. Grinning, he teased at Chanyeol’s rim, enjoying the way the older boy’s eyes fluttered.

“Already prepared yourself, did you?” 

“Couldn’t wait for you. You sleep like a rock, did you know?” Chanyeol’s eyes sparkled mischievously. 

“You’re  _ impossible _ .” Kyungsoo said, but the heat in his belly simmered even hotter at the thought of Chanyeol fingering himself while thinking about how he would be fucked so well by Kyungsoo. 

“I’m  _ prepared _ . There’s a difference. Anyways, fuck me?” He said, wide eyes all innocent.

“Fuck me, what?” Kyungsoo berated.

“Uh. Please? Sir? I dunno, Soo-yah. I can’t wait anymore.” Chanyeol whined, rolling his hips against the one finger Kyungsoo kept teasing him with.

“You’re not being very good,” Kyungsoo said dryly. “I don’t know if you deserve to be fucked. Does hyung want it that bad?”

Chanyeol wriggled impatiently, moaning loudly. “Yes, yes. Hyung wants it so bad. Please? Soo, I’ll be a good hyung, I promise.” 

Kyungsoo pretended to be unfazed, still circling his pointer finger around Chanyeol’s slick, puffy rim. In reality, he loved seeing Chanyeol as a whiny mess underneath him, practically begging.

“Then be still and let your dongsaeng fuck you good. Don’t hide your pretty noises, hyung.” Kyungsoo cooed, even though Chanyeol was literally never quiet during sex. Kyungsoo would never dare tell Chanyeol to muffle his gasps and curses, treasuring every little sound that came out of him far too much. He liked knowing that he was able to make Chanyeol fall apart into an incoherent mess.

“Yes, yes, yes. Soo-yah, c’mon. Hyung needs you.” Chanyeol babbled as Kyungsoo pushed in three fingers without warning. 

Kyungsoo wanted to tease Chanyeol more, see how far he could push him, but he also just wanted to fuck into Chanyeol now and watch him fall apart beneath him. Finally, he caved in to the latter option, slicking up his own cock, watching as Chanyeol’s own length twitched, red and angry after being neglected for so long. 

Pushing in gently, Kyungsoo hissed at the heat and pressure of Chanyeol’s hole, at how his boyfriend clenched almost immediately around him.

“Stop that,” Kyungsoo growled, fisting Chanyeol’s cock to take the edge off his impatience. Moaning, Chanyeol threw his arm over his face, hiding his eyes with his slender wrist. With his back already arching prettily, Kyungsoo could admire how well-built his body was. He trailed his fingers up sweat-slick abs and a broad chest. Chanyeol had certainly bulked up over the summer and although Kyungsoo loved him no matter what he looked like, he could also appreciate the new addition of muscles and thickness underneath his palms. 

Finally bottoming out, Kyungsoo’s hips met Chanyeol’s ass and he was reminded yet again how thankful he was for the gym. Chanyeol had a cute little butt, but after working out he had gained plushness that Kyungsoo appreciated greatly. Just so he could see Chanyeol squirm a little more, Kyungsoo smacked his ass cheek, delighting in how Chanyeol immediately groaned and pushed back against his palm that was soothing over the red mark left behind.

“Please, please, I need it so bad.  _ Move _ , please Soo-yah. Hyung has been so good, so patient,” Chanyeol sobbed, rolling his hips down for some sweet, sweet, friction. 

Kyungsoo reached out and grabbed Chanyeol’s hand, pulling it away from his face and intertwining their fingers. Chanyeol’s face was flushed red, eyes glittering with tears, mouth swollen. His hair stuck up in thick curls everywhere, accentuating the way his ears were so cutely large. Everything about Chanyeol was cute, despite his height and well-sculpted muscles, and Kyungsoo kind of wanted to kiss him until they couldn't breathe anymore. 

Squeezing Chanyeol’s hand, Kyungsoo leaned down and kissed him hard and thrusted forward at the same time, making Chanyeol’s mouth fall open in a silent scream. Fucking into him hard, Kyungsoo bit down on Chanyeol’s lower lip, making his boyfriend finally start moaning out loud, tears mixing with sweat. 

“Soo-yah, Soo-yah,” Chanyeol cried against Kyungsoo’s mouth, moving his hips down to meet Kyungsoo’s thrusts. 

“So good for me, hm? So perfect and wonderful. You make me feel so good, hyung,” Kyungsoo purred into Chanyeol’s ear, knowing how sensitive they were and how the heat of his breath against the cartilage would drive Chanyeol crazy. 

“Fuckfuckfuck--” 

Kyungsoo was overwhelmed by the onslaught of noises that was rumbling from Chanyeol's mouth and the feeling of Chanyeol around him, his brain narrowing to this one pinpoint of _Chanyeol Chanyeol Chanyeol_. If there was one thing that Kyungsoo loved about sex, it was how he felt like all secrets and worries and walls put up in their minds just...disappeared. Like this, Kyungsoo could feel the vibrations of pleasure and desperation just beneath Chanyeol's skin, and at every point of connection it was like Kyungsoo knew exactly what Chanyeol was thinking and feeling.

“Are you going to come for me?” It hadn’t been long, but Kyungsoo knew how long Chanyeol had been riled up and begging for it. His boyfriend had been hard and needy since before Kyungsoo was even awake. 

Kyungsoo had to admit that even he wouldn’t last long now, with the slick heat of Chanyeol’s body so tight around him and the way Chanyeol was being so good beneath him. 

“Yes, fuck, I’m gonna come Soo-yah. I need to come. Please,” He begged, tugging at his own nipples with a free hand, his other still squeezing Kyungsoo’s tightly. 

“Come for me,” Kyungsoo whispered and bent down to suck on the tip of Chanyeol’s ear, teeth scraping lightly. With one last thrust, he rocked into Chanyeol as deep as he could, feeling how Chanyeol’s body immediately tensed up, clenching around his cock.

With a cry, Chanyeol came untouched, white streaking up his and Kyungsoo’s chests. Chanyeol dissolved into a mess of moans as he rode out the aftershocks on Kyungsoo’s cock.

Between the tight heat of Chanyeol’s hole and the lovely sounds he was making, a wave of delicious sensations washed over Kyungsoo in a white-hot orgasm. 

“Fuck, fuck. Yeol.” Kyungsoo grunted, voice rumbling against Chanyeol’s ear. 

His boyfriend whimpered as Kyungsoo’s cock jerked inside of him, filling him with wet warmth and making his own cock leak out one last dribble of cum, burning with electric oversensitivity. 

Finally sated, Kyungsoo collapsed on top of Chanyeol ignoring the stickiness between them. 

“Fuck. Soo, you’re heavy.” Chanyeol groaned, even though his body was still singing with post-orgasm sensations. 

“I’m way lighter than you,” Kyungsoo muttered into where his face was firmly planted between Chanyeol’s pecs. 

His boyfriend rubbed gently at Kyungsoo’s biceps with his hand, the other one still holding Kyungsoo’s stubbornly, his thumb running over Kyungsoo’s knuckles. 

“Okay, okay. Get off, it’s clean up time,” Chanyeol said cheerfully. Unfortunately, he was still hyper even post-orgasm, whereas Kyungsoo was half-asleep. 

Kyungsoo grumbled something unintelligible and rolled off of Chanyeol’s warm and admittedly comfortable body, letting the elder get up to retrieve some damp washcloths. 

“Call Baekhyun, Yeol. We’re gonna be late today.” Kyungsoo called out in afterthought, noting his jelly-like legs.

“Already texted him,” Chanyeol replied cheerfully from the bathroom and Kyungsoo sighed happily.  _ This  _ was perfection.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you all have been well!! ;; sorry for the lack of updates, life has been rlly crazy


	9. Chapter 9

For weeks, Jongdae and his two accomplishes, Jongin and Sehun, had been making fake weibo and reddit accounts, posting rumours about the return of “KRISWU”. It wasn’t difficult to start the rumours, as there were already plenty of crazy fan accounts that had spent the last year compiling complex theories on why “KRISWU” disappeared and when he would return. Once they caught wind of the hints that Jongdae and his friends were dropping, it was like blood in the water. Soon, the news began circulating that people had seen “KRISWU” playing again and that he would be making his new debut, even bigger and better.

It was clear that Yifan wasn’t holding back anymore either; his secondary account had jumped from high Diamond to low Grandmasters and was quickly on his way to Challenger, the highest rank in League of Legends. Because his starved fans were desperately watching the leaderboards to catch wind of “KRISWU”, they quickly took notice of “GalaxyFan” on his way to being one of the highest ranked players in South Korea. The two favorite theories was that “GalaxyFan” was either a rival opponent of “KRISWU” who was trying to beat him before his debut or that “GalaxyFan” was actually “KRISWU” climbing the ranks to show his dominance. Which, of course, they were partially right on the latter. In fact, “GalaxyFan” had started gathering quite the following. As Kyungsoo was taught, higher ranked players were quickly noticed and scouted by professional companies, whether it to be trained to play competitively or to be signed on a live streaming contract only. “GalaxyFan” had received any offers yet, as he was still ranked too low, but Jongdae assured them all that he knew they all had heard about “GalaxyFan” and were keeping tabs on him.

“Which company do you want to be signed to?” Kyungsoo had asked Yifan. 

Although his debut was going to be important, Kyungsoo’s ultimate goal was to get Yifan successfully signed and fulfill his promise of helping Tao’s graphic design dream come true. 

“Honestly, I’d be grateful for any company,” Yifan had hesitated and Kyungsoo knew he had his eyes set on something specific. “But truly, if I was lucky enough to have my pick, I’d love TME.”

“TME?”

“Two Moons Esports,” Yifan explained. “They were the first team that had approached me before I went underground. Their company is known for being very kind to players and give them many good opportunities. They aren’t the most successful team, but their coach is a genius and they just need stability.”

“Stability that you can provide.” Kyungsoo pointed out. 

Yifan’s lips quirked up and he ducked his head, as if he didn’t want to be so selfish as to admit that out loud. Kyungsoo felt something pull in his chest.

Of course, it was only expected that Luhan would burst through the doors at some point, demanding to see Yifan.

“Where is he?” Luhan seethed as soon as he stepped foot into the PC bang. He was dragging another man behind him.

“Hello to you too, Luhan,” Chanyeol said calmly from behind the front desk. 

“Don’t ‘hello’ me, what the hell do you guys think you’re doing?” 

“I dunno...I’m just going through some paperwork now. What do you think I’m doing?”

“Park Chanyeol--” Luhan looked like he was about to smack Chanyeol across the face, but his companion laid a placating hand on his shoulder. 

“I’m sorry, Lu-ge is just worried. Where’s Yifan and Tao?” The man said patiently. He was smiling serenely, one of his round cheeks dimpling slightly. 

“Who’s asking, exactly?” Chanyeol looked confused, frowning.

“Tell them Zhang Yixing is here.” The man answered as if that explained everything.

“Xing-ge?” As if on cue, Tao materialized from behind the kitchen door, surely having been listening to the entire conversation. 

“Taozi!” The man named Zhang Yixing smiled broadly, eyes crinkling. “Speak of the devil, hm?” 

“Eh, Xing-ge, be nicer!” Tao bounded over to the man like an over enthusiastic puppy and pulled him into a slightly painful looking embrace. It was an amusing picture, as Tao was considerably taller.

“What are you doing here, ge?” Tao asked, eyes wide. 

“Me and Lu-ge are visiting. We have some things to talk about with you guys. But what’s this, I get a hug and Lu-ge doesn’t?” 

“Lu-ge doesn’t deserve a hug,” Tao stuck out his tongue at Luhan, whose eye twitched ever so slightly. “He was mean to me and duizhang.” 

“Why do you insist on calling him duizhang,” Luhan muttered, crossing his arms. 

Chanyeol leaned back, sucking loudly on the straw shoved into his can of iced tea. 

“Taozi, Lu-ge is always looking out for you and Yifan-ge. He never meant to hurt any of you. We’re here to help you, okay?” Yixing petted gently at Zitao’s hair, the younger boy pouting. 

“I know,” Tao whined. “But it’s been fine with me and duizhang for so long. Anyways, we have help now!”

He smiled brightly at Chanyeol, who laughed nervously, eyeing Luhan as if he was about to strangle someone. 

“Ah, yes. The mysterious saviours,” Yixing nodded thoughtfully. “I take it you’re one of them?”

“I’m Park Chanyeol,” Chanyeol said helpfully. 

“Yes, yes. Him and his boyfriend, Do Kyungsoo,” Luhan huffed. “They’re keeping Yifan and Zitao here.”

“You make it sound like they’re locked in the basement or something!” Chanyeol protested. 

Yixing raised his hands in mock-surrender, patting Luhan. 

“Hyungs have been trying to help duizhang debut and for me to get a job!” Tao said brightly, still draping his too-long arms over Yixing’s shoulders. 

Yixing glanced over at Luhan tentatively. “I think we all need to talk.”

Tao retrieved both Yifan and Kyungsoo from the kitchen, leading them out to the couches in the lobby. Yifan glared pointedly at Luhan, but just like Tao, his gaze turned soft on Yixing. It wasn’t surprising though, as the other man seemed to have a calming effect on everyone, his gentle smile and warm eyes softening the harshness of any situation. 

“Xing,” Yifan greeted him. “Luhan. Any particular reason to visit?”

Luhan looked like he was either trying to start a staring contest with Kyungsoo or he just had extremely bad vision. Kyungsoo ignored him, figuring that he would soon have to come to the conclusion that yes, Yifan had other friends and no, they weren’t here to hurt him. 

“Fan,” Luhan burst out right away. “The rumours are all over the place. Did you really expect me not to notice? So, is it true? Are you debuting again?”

Yifan blinked slowly. 

“Lu-ge!” Tao cried out dramatically. “I don’t give a fuck whether or not you support our careers, we’ve already got everything planned out and the debut date is set! So if you’re going to discourage us, you can go fucking do it somewhere else.”

Kyungsoo felt his lips twitch in amusement at both Tao’s protective outburst and also his terrible habit of cursing. 

“You better watch your mouth, kid. What did I tell you about swearing?” Luhan frowned. “We don’t swear in this household.” 

“We’re in a PC bang,” Yifan pointed out.

“You!” Luhan rounded on the taller man, who immediately shrunk back, eyebrows raising in regret. “You’re the one who taught him to swear like that, don’t think I don’t know.”

“Ge,” Yixing smiled like he was taking a family photo. “Back to the topic?”

Chanyeol excused himself after a small coughing fit that Kyungsoo easily recognized as badly-hidden laughter. 

“I’ll let you guys...figure this out,” Kyungsoo said, backing away slowly. The four Chinese men were already caught up in a new argument to even notice as Kyungsoo slipped away to run after Chanyeol.

His boyfriend was hunched over the kitchen counter, wheezing great breaths of laughter.

“Soo,” Chanyeol choked out between giggles. “They’re even more dysfunctional than my friend group.”

Kyungsoo patted Chanyeol’s back comfortingly. “You guys are just like a bunch of rambunctious beagle puppies compared to them. They’re like...territorial dragons.” He wrinkled his nose.

“Yeah, and that Yixing fellow is like the sleeping dragon that seems all quiet but you don’t wanna wake him,” Chanyeol dissolved into another round of laughter after barely getting his own words out. 

“Laugh now, but wait until they burn down this place,” Kyungsoo mused. 

Chanyeol wiped the corners of his eyes with his thumbs, still trying to calm down from his fit of laughter. “Eh, Yifan is too soft for that. He’s really just a cuddly giant. And so is Tao. It’s the small ones you gotta watch out for.” He winked, poking Kyungsoo’s side.

Kyungsoo punched his shoulder without really putting any force behind it. “You’re damn right, you better watch your back Park Chanyeol.”

His boyfriend just grinned and rested his head on Kyungsoo’s shoulder, bending his body to adjust to the height. 

Kyungsoo huffed but let him snuggle up.

“Wait, what do you mean cuddly giant?” He added in afterthought, suddenly pushing Chanyeol up again.

“Soo, I was comfortable,” Chanyeol whined. “And yes, Yifan is a big teddy bear. Not that I’m getting any cuddles here,” A pointed glare. “But I always see him and Tao sitting on the couch like there’s velcro attached their their clothes.” 

“Tao is like...a giant baby kid. Yifan probably keeps him alive through cuddles.” Kyungsoo said. Not that he cared or anything, but it just seemed like Yifan wasn’t really the physically affectionate type and apparently Chanyeol had picked up on something he didn’t.

“I’m sure Yifan would give you cuddles if you asked,” Chanyeol said, annoyingly smug. Kyungsoo did not like the way he was looking at him. 

“Shut up. I don’t want cuddles.” He folded his arms, knowing he was acting pouty, but Chanyeol was confusing him.

“Oh, of course not,” Chanyeol cooed, nuzzling his face into Kyungsoo’s shoulder, blowing little raspberries through the fabric of his shirt. 

“Shush. I’m gonna go check and see if our dragons burned down the place yet,” Kyungsoo turned away, his face feeling oddly hot.

He heard Chanyeol give a little laugh and bound after him, ducking back through the kitchen door.

On the couches was a strange sight to behold. All six feet of Tao’s lanky, muscular body was curled up on Luhan’s lap, the kid crying obnoxiously and dripping snot over Luhan’s terrifyingly expensive looking shirt. The elder was staring down at Zitao with a mixture of fondness and dismay. Yifan was clearly pouting, his arms folding and his head resting on Yixing’s shoulder. The serene man was petting at Yifan’s long hair, carding his fingers through the ends. The whole scene was oddly peaceful and Kyungsoo wondered if this was what an agreement looked like.

Kyungsoo coughed and he was pretty sure he heard Chanyeol run back to the kitchen to dispel any rogue bouts of laughter.

“Um, knock knock? Can I come in?” Kyungsoo asked, rapping the side of the wall with his knuckles even though the lobby was an entirely open space with no doors to even close it off from the rest of the building.

“I suppose,” Luhan eyed Kyungsoo up and down as if checking for any potential threats.

“So. Everything all...good?” 

“Get me some tissues and everything will be a lot better.” Luhan frowned at the dampness on the collar of his shirt. 

Zitao apparently didn’t notice or chose to ignore that, his face red and blotchy from crying. The puffiness accentuated his aegyo-sal and the curve of his cupid’s bow, but it was still oddly cute.

Snatching a box of tissues off the counter of the front desk, Kyungsoo carefully walked over to the emotional pile of grown men sitting on his couches. Luhan immediately grabbed a handful, patting at his shirt and grimacing. 

“Sorry Lu-ge,” Zitao said in a watery voice and promptly blew his nose loudly. Luhan sighed, all-suffering, but rubbed the back of Tao’s neck. 

Kyungsoo stood awkwardly in front of them, suppressing the urge to crack his knuckles. Yifan glanced up, noticing Kyungsoo’s crisis, and patted the seat next to him.

“Sit down, Kyungsoo-yah.” 

Tentatively, Kyungsoo sat next to him, shifting as Yifan lifted his head from Yixing’s shoulder and readjusted his posture. 

Chanyeol re-emerged from the kitchen and sat cross-legged on the floor, somehow managing to gracefully fold his long legs into a position that didn’t look painful. 

“This isn’t gonna be a theatre performance.” Luhan groaned. 

“Luhan has found Taozi a job.” Yifan interrupted, words quick and choppy. 

Kyungsoo swung his head over to Luhan instantly. The other man’s pretty face was annoyingly impassive. 

“Seriously? Like, an actual graphic design job or what you define as some sort of ‘stable’ shit?” 

Yifan gently placed a hand on Kyungsoo’s arm and he jumped at the contact, realizing that it was possibly the first time Yifan had touched him voluntarily. 

“It’s okay, Soo. He’s for real.” 

“We’re here to help,” Yixing said softly. “Me and Luhan have missed our friends very much. We understand that apology gifts aren’t the answer, but we both want to take the right step towards making Yifan and Zitao happy.”

Luhan nodded. “I know I can be stubborn. I can be ignorant. I can be forgetful. But I won’t ever stop caring for you two, I can promise you that won’t change. After seeing you both after two years of silence, I realized what an idiot I was and how much I fucked up.”

“Watch your language, ge,” Tao teased, his voice congested from crying. 

“You’re a little shit, you know that?” Luhan grinned. 

“I’m trying to lighten the conversation, okay? I’m gonna cry again,” Zitao whined, pressing his nose into Luhan’s collarbone. Yixing reached over and rubbed Tao’s back comfortingly. 

Kyungsoo stared at the scene, wondering how they were literally at each other’s throats mere minutes ago. Dully, he also registered the warmth of Yifan’s broad palm where it still rested on his forearm and wondered if maybe he was more touchy when he got emotional. 

“Okay,” Chanyeol said, interrupting Kyungsoo’s wandering train of thought. “So you have a plan then?”

“I’m taking Taozi to meet with the CEO of a graphic design and production company. He won’t actually be working for the League of Legends company, but this is a close second. I’ve known the CEO for a while and he’s a kind man. He won’t overlook Tao’s talent.” Luhan explained.

“I’m so excited,” Tao nodded enthusiastically. “Lu-ge says I can be a conceptual artist for the company if the CEO hires me. This has been my dream forever.”

Luhan smiled, looking pleased, and petted Tao’s hair again. “I’ll take Taozi for an interview next week.

Kyungsoo’s felt his heart thundering in his chest, hopeful excitement sparking his nerves alight.

“For real? That’s incredible. Tao, this is exactly what we’ve been looking for.”

“I know! Hyung, I’m actually gonna do this!” Zitao’s smile was so broad that his eyes disappeared into crescents, his hands clapping together. 

“Luhan-hyung, seriously, we can’t thank you enough.” Kyungsoo admitted. Although the elder man was sometimes an overprotective jerk, Kyungsoo realized just how much he cared for the others. Despite their strange relationship, the four of them fit together well and seemed to understand each other. 

“Taozi deserves this. This is for him.”

“And Fan-ge!” Zitao protested, trying to divert the attention off himself, cheeks red.

Luhan laughed. “Yes. FanFan is gonna have his breakthrough too.”

Kyungsoo glanced to his side and Yifan was smiling, chin tucked into his chest shyly. Chanyeol was rocking excitedly from where he sat on the ground. He thought that maybe he and Chanyeol fit somewhere in this equation as well, somehow a part of these four lives that depended on each other. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I haven't gotten the chance to update this in a while unfortunately, since my life has been so busy, but I hope to continue to add to it little by little >w< thank you for your patience!

**Author's Note:**

> please feel free to give me feedback and commentary, I adore hearing from each and every one of you~


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